Waiting Here
by idevourbooks
Summary: 200 years ago, an Angel met a Demon, and the unthinkable happened. They fell in love, something forbidden between the two. They were punished and the Angel died on their 21th birthday, only to be brought back to life to go through the same fate over and over while the Demon had to live forever. There was a loophole though, if the Demon could save the Angel, that fate could change.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**

**Hi people! This is my first story I'm submitting on here! Ack I'm so nervous! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy and all characters belong to Hiro Mashima! If I owned Fairy Tail, that would be amazing, but sadly I don't own it. The storyline's all mine though. **

**Prologue**

The sun was covered by thick, gray storm clouds, yet not a single drop of rain dared to fall from the darkening sky onto the grievous scene before me. From where I'm perched-on the top branch of the single Sakura tree in this dead ridden place-I can see the ceremony perfectly.

There were five people in total, two guys and two girls, all of them dressed in the color black with no other color in sight on their sobbing frames-save for their exotic hair colors of blue, green, and orange. The fifth person, the priest, had on black robes and clutched the bible close to his chest as he desperately tried to cheer up the broken people before him.

He attempts to crack a joke, saying something about how God was probably chatting with the girl who died about her favorite Starbuck's coffee flavor, which just causes one of the girls to cry more and moan out the words, "Caramel Macchiato".

I sigh and tug in annoyance on the short, three-inch brown horns on both sides of my salmon haired head. Slowly my eyes drift over to the sleek black coffin that held the still girl. I can only catch a glimpse of her blonde head from where I sit and suck in a breath, my heart beat picking up.

A wave of nostalgia comes over me as I remember long golden hair that belonged to the girl I used to chase all day long in the meadows that were almost as beautiful as her radiant self. How I wish I could just catch a glimpse of the dead girl's face. _Then I can know for sure if this is her... _

I hastily shake my head out of those yearning thoughts. Why even get my hopes up? That old fart Macao told me this might not be her and to not get too worked up. She's dead anyways, which meant I was too late like always. I was always too late... that was the punishment God Himself laid upon me. He'd give me my chance and take it away from me just as fast, hurting her in the process. She was always there to see, but never to touch, and it killed me more and more every time I searched for her.

God has kept her hidden very well, even in death she is concealed away from my eyes, and I feel myself die a little bit every time I think I've finally got her, but yet again my hopes are turned down and I slowly feel myself give in to the beast that lives inside of me.

My ears perk up when I hear the faint sounds of the priest blessing her body and telling the few sorrowful souls to be on their way, saying she was in a better place now and that she'd want them to live life to its fullest for her. The two girls walk over to the coffin and look down at the girl one last time before limping away, the two men trailing behind them with the priest leading them back to the church.

Once they were just specks in the distance I swing off of the tree and land on the ground with a thud. I begin to walk over to the girl's coffin, knowing I'd only have a couple of minutes before the gravediggers would come and bury the sleek black box.

My heart begins to pick up speed and my palms become sweaty as I draw nearer, hope swelling up in my chest so much I was sure that if it wasn't her I might just break into a billion little pieces. But, on the other hand, what if it actually was her? What if she didn't look a day older than from two hundred years ago? What if she was just as beautiful? What would I do? What _do_ I do if this was really her?

I suck in my breath as I peer into the black coffin, my entire body tensing for a moment as my eyes roam the petite body dressed up in a beautiful, loose black dress. My eyes make their way up the girl's unmoving body and then I allow my eyes to see her face, my body still rigid from anticipation… and then I slacken. Tears of frustration well up in my eyes and I fall to my knees at the girl's grave, silent sobs of defeat overtake my body.

"Why…" I whisper. My throat was suddenly hoarse and my words caught in my throat. I was so hopeful, I was so _certain…_ I thought I finally did it this time... after all of these years of never even catching a glimpse of her. But now, all signs of hope have completely left me. I will _never_ have her back.

"Why can't I just find you?" I rasp out, head in my hands. Just this once, why can't I just find her? Why can't I find the one person who made me feel something? Who made me feel regret and remorse for what I did? For what I _was?_ She showed me how to feel, she taught someone like _me_ to feel… a _demon._

A cold-hearted monster that would kill without a second thought learned to feel… because he fell in love. And every single day without their precious heart makes the barrier between the monster and who they are more and more weak.

I felt as if a string broke inside of me, like this was the last straw for me and my feelings. It was as if someone turned a switch inside of me, as if I was a completely different person from one second to the next. All I wanted to do was _kill_ someone, was to feel their life in my hands and tear it away from their dainty human ones without a second thought.

I feel my horns grow two inches longer and my body is engulfed in flames that I haven't seen in a long time. Red scales with a gold tint form on my cheek bones and arms. It feels… like nothing. I don't feel anything, even when the gravediggers come with their shovels and I attack them, taking two down in a flash by tearing their throats out. I didn't feel the last gravedigger's shovel being slammed against my body nor their blood splashing onto my face when I smash their head in and set the three unfortunate gravediggers aflame. I don't feel anything, not even the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

I feel nothing, and I don't ever want to feel again. 

**Author's Note**

**What do you think? Good? Bad? *Sigh* I hope it wasn't that bad! *Laughs* Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! I just wanted to thank those who reviewed and I wanted to answer that yes, this will be MULTIPLE chapters long (by that I mean like it can be ten to twenty chapters, I still haven't decided!) and I also wanted to say that this chapter is NOT told by (you guys guessed him) Natsu, but (notices the spoiler about to type)... _someone else. _Also I realize I wrote this in, like, A DAY, but it probably won't always be that fast of an update until the summer to give you the heads up. One last thing, I tried to make this chapter a little more light hearted and it probably seems like a filler-ish chapter, but I made it this way so I can introduce how... _this person's_ everyday life is like.**

**Chapter One**

The orange morning sun peeked through the mountains guarding the valley city of Magnolia, where the only ones out and about were those opening up businesses and those who were trudging home, hung-over from the night before. A river that began up in the mountains divided the small city in two with little canals branching off of it. The narrow river eventually opened up to a fishing bay large enough to house over a hundred fishing boats that not only fed the people of Magnolia, but also took up a sizable amount of their trade with other cities within the country of Fiore. Magnolia was a generally quiet city with kind people, and that was exactly why I moved here after I ran away from home.

I liked the small city, and I love the friends I've made here. Everyone was friendly and always looking out for one another, something I never experienced before in my own home. And being a nineteen year old girl at the time, I guess I wanted something different than arranged marriages and the sadness that was lathered in every inch of the house I could _never_ call a home after the incident.

So I ran away and came to Magnolia on my nineteenth birthday, when my father announced I was to be married the next day. I had asked my most trusted maids to help me make it seem as if I drowned in the river near the house, and I ran away with nothing more than a couple of jewels and the clothes on my back. I made a life for myself in the city of Magnolia, and I was never going back to my old life.

"Happy Birthday to me," I melodically whisper to no one as I stare at myself in the mirror. It was the crack of dawn yet I was fully awake and dressed in skinny jeans, combat boots, and a pink tank top with a long, brown sweater hanging off of my shoulders. Golden locks up in a messy bun I look nothing like how I did a year ago, I would've never been able to wear this.

"Happy Birthday to me," it's been exactly one year since my "great" escape, and exactly one year since I've began a better life here in Magnolia. I have friends, and I have a job as a waitress _and_ I'm working part time as an astrology teacher for the local high school. I didn't have a lot of students, ten tops, but I loved teaching it. Star gazing was one of the best things to do here in Magnolia.

"Happy Birthday dear Lucy," I look back up to my reflection where I no longer see the little girl who ran away, but instead I see my mother. Every year I looked more and more like her, people would always tell me that with a little bit of sadness in their voices. Not everyone was done grieving for her. _No wonder why my dad wanted me out of his life._

I take in a shaky breath, willing the newly formed tears not to spill from the memories of my loving mother. When the incident happened, my dad became cruel and neglected me. I never understood why until now when I look at myself I see why… I looked so much like her that it hurt.

"Happy," my voice cracks and a tear escapes from my brown orbs. My shoulders shake and I try to keep myself from falling apart, staring myself down in the mirror.

"Birthday to me." I smile gently at my reflection as I see the tears spill down my cheeks before my vision gets blurry. I sniffle and let out a sob before biting my bottom lip to keep it from quivering. I clench my fists and gasp for breath.

I missed my mom so much... she made that big mansion seem so tiny and cozy before she died. She could melt my doubts away with one look and she could thaw any frozen heart with just a glance. She made anyone feel good with simply a small smile. She was my father's everything, too, and after the incident, a piece inside us all died along with her and my father turned cold. _I guess every good thing has to end_ _at some point._

I whimper and open my eyes to messy mascara. Shaking, I grab some tissues and wipe my tears and mascara away. I take deep breaths and mentally coach myself to not cry today, you were supposed to have fun on your birthday, right?

I take a shaky breath, _Now that I got_ _that out of my system, _I think,_ I better get to work._ I glance at myself once more in the mirror before grabbing my keys and wallet.

I lock my apartment door behind me before I hop down the stairs of my apartment building and out the front door. I walk out onto the quiet cobble stoned street and strut along the wall of the canal, two fishermen warning me about falling into the river. I wave them off and continue on my way towards the restaurant and bar I worked as a waitress for, _Fairy Tail_.

Besides working there, I spent a lot of my time at _Fairy Tail. _All of my friends worked there and we hung out there a lot to talk to our friends who _were_ on the job. Plus, if you worked there you got to dine for free and on Fridays drinks were on the house. Ugh, that means I'll be on clean up duty first thing today since yesterday was Friday.

Pouting, I make it to the restaurant's front doors and step inside the dining area only to be greeted by a chair flying towards my head. I scream and duck just in time so the wooden object smashes against the doors, not me and stand up enraged.

"HI TO YOU, TOO!" I yell at the black haired, shirtless man known as Gray.

"Nice reflexes!" he shouts back before dodging a beer bottle being thrown at his face.

In the background I hear someone yell, "Goddamn it! I missed that stripping pervert again! He made me waste my booze for nothing!" and I soon see one of my good friends, Cana the drunkard, fuming over her wasted booze.

"BE A MAN ABOUT IT AND BEAT HIM WITH YOUR FISTS!" comes from a white haired man named Elfman who currently had Gray in a headlock. I sigh, this was too much for one morning.

"SHUT UP!" I bark at them. All three stop simultaneously, Cana in the middle of biting Gray's calf while he stopped struggling against her and Elfman's headlock. They all blinked at me surprised and quickly got up saying I could rival the red headed demon Erza when I got angry.

I sigh and say that we should begin to open up the business and they nodded, going off to their stations but not before slapping each other into another brawl that I have to drag them out of by threatening to get Erza. We all shiver at the thought of the red head in the morning, cranky and angry, and quickly went about getting the restaurant and bar ready for the early birds and our other co-workers who reported after eight.

A long, brawl-free hour later we were all sitting at a table playing poker when our boss, Makarov, showed up. The short old man greeted us and looked over my shoulder to see what we were playing.

"Poker, eh? You brats betting on anything?" I shook my head and Cana said she was broke while Elfman and Gray said they were too lazy to get out their wallets and pay.

Makarov sighed, "You kids can always play a good game of stripping poker-"

Cana slapped Makarov on the back of the head, "You perverted old man! We all know Gray's already playing like that, but that doesn't mean we have to."

Gray's eyes widened as he looked down at himself only wearing his boxers, "When did that happen?!" While Gray went off to fetch his clothes, we all put down our cards and Makarov walked to his office with ice on his head.

A little bit later Mirajane-sister to Elfman and another one of my good friends-came in and took her shift as barmaid while Elfman went into the kitchen taking his shift. Gray stood in the front as the hostess and Cana and I were the waitresses waiting on the few who came in at eight in the morning. I asked Cana if she could make it the next couple of hours without her booze while she just flashed me her silver flask she always had handy.

Around ten o'clock was when those looking for breakfast came in and when Fairy Tail got a little bit busier. Cana and I were soon helped out by my best friend Levy at waiting on the demanding customers and at twelve Cana swapped with Erza, or the so called "red headed demon".

When business was slower around three o'clock, I began to count my tips getting up to fifty-five jewels when Erza, Cana, Mira, and Levy cornered me. I looked up at them curiously from where I was seated and they all stared back at me intently. I begin to get uncomfortable under their stare and raise an eyebrow at them.

They all took a deep breath before yelling out, "HAPPY 20TH BIRTHDAY BIOTCH! OHHHHH! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY-"

"-LITTLE SIS-" Mira sings.

"-BFF-" Levy shouts.

"-BOOKWORM-" Erza yells.

"-GIRL WHO HIDES MY BOOZE!" Cana screams while Mira, Levy, and Erza glare at her. "What? It's true!"

They roll their eyes at her and I giggle, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

I laugh, "Thanks, guys! I wasn't expecting you guys to remember."

Erza shrugs, "We didn't until I tortured it out of Gramps."

My mouth makes and 'o' and Levy nudges Erza in the side, "You weren't supposed to tell her that!" she whisper screams.

I roll my eyes at them and thank them before walking into the bathroom, thinking of how my friends knew exactly what I needed without even knowing I needed it.

I fixed up my appearance in the bathroom's mirror before going on my lunch break that I so badly needed, not knowing I was about to miss someone I should've known like the back of my hand.

**Author's Note:**

**I tried to make it light hearted, but thinking back to the prologue and the beginning of this chapter... eh, it's still depressing *laughs*. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I hope to get the next one in by tomorrow since this week is a very laid back one at school. Please review (only if you want to) and constructional criticism is welcomed if you have any advice!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update yesterday like I said I would, but I decided to make the chapter longer than how I originally wanted it which made me take longer. Any who, hope you enjoy the chapter and it's in NATSU'S POINT OF VIEW incase you can't tell from, like, the first two paragraphs *laughs*. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Two**

I patiently wait for Gramps to come into his cramped office, gazing out his window down at the citizens of Magnolia running about their normal, human lives. Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if she and I were human, if we could've gotten married and lived normal lives. Have children and grow old together, sharing so many memories in our years spent together side by side. That would be nice, to be human, to not have to watch those around you die while you're immortal, to not have to deal with the rules of Heaven and Hell, to not have an inner monster jumping up and down inside you like an impatient little kid.

_Speaking of "inner monsters"… _I groan and tug on my horns. I lost control of myself the other day and ended up killing five people-the three gravediggers and a couple walking home from a bar drunk, making them easy targets to lure into an alley way.

The barrier between Natsu with feelings and Natsu the demon was becoming very fragile, I was lucky I pulled myself out of it before I could kill anyone else. I was growing weak, and I knew Gramps would be able to help me, I mean, he's a demon living in the human world-he must have some kind of advice to give me, right?

Below I catch a glimpse of blonde hair and my heart stops. I frantically try to see where it came from, but it went as fast as it came and I freeze when I hear the door click shut.

"Natsu? Is that you, brat?" I turn around to see Gramps staring wide eyed at me. The short old man wore his signature orange jumpsuit with a beer clutched in hand as he walked towards me, his other hand reaching out to touch me as if to make sure I was real. It's been a long time since I last saw the man. Maybe a couple of decades…

I grin goofily, "It's nice to see you too, old man."

Gramps sat down at his desk and huffed, "Don't I always tell you to call me Makarov?"

I remove the papers strewn on the seat across from him and sit down gingerly, a smirk tugging on the edges of my mouth. I never really liked the name Makarov for the older demon. It was always Gramps or old man for him, not Makarov.

He clears his throat and raises an eyebrow at me, "If someone catches you with those horns sticking out of your head, there's going to be a commotion."

I glance up at my horns protruding through my pink spikes and figure he's right-knowing how humans react to the unordinary. I will them to shrink into my skull before looking back at Gramps, "Better?"

He examines my head of now just salmon hair and nods. "Now," he says, "What do you need, boy?"

I gulp and lick my lips, unsure of how to ask the old man. I have never really asked for anything before-unless it had something to do with fire-since being a demon, we were expected to take care of ourselves or die, so I was sort of new to this "asking and receiving" thing.

"Well," I begin, "as you know, two hundred years ago… I fell in love with an angel-something forbidden for us," Gramps nods his head, as if remembering the day he found out about my life changing feelings for someone of the Holy Land. "That must also mean you know the punishment God laid upon us."

His eyes open and he lifts an eyebrow, "I've heard rumors of it, yes, but what do you want an old demon like me to do? Help you find her?"

My eyes widen at the thought. It hadn't even crossed my mind to ask for Gramps' help. All I came here for was advice on how to keep the monster within me at bay, but what if he did help me? Older demons had more resources than those of my age so he could actually be a huge help. All I needed was the right words to get him to help me, "Well, that would be very-"

"Well I ain't going to do it!"

"Okay, then-"

"Stop trying to persuade me, I ain't going to do it, brat!"

"Of course, then-"

"FINE! Enough of your whining, I'll do it." He growls out, crossing his arms.

I was in shock and my brain tried it's best to take in what had just happened. First, he rejected me, and then rejected me again, and then he said he'd do it? Geez, old men are so weird.

I quickly recover though and say, "Great! So you'll actually do it?"

"Yes! Now show me a memory of her before I change my mind!" he barked. I quickly got up, excitement flowing through my veins as I tried to find a memory to show him. I had so many memories of her, some of her flying through the sky and others of her pointing out the constellations to me, so I decided on a simple one of her smiling up at me.

We were in the meadow that connected Heaven to Earth, so of course it was beautiful with sunshine and cloudless skies. None of this, though, compared to her. Her golden tresses shone in the sunlight, outlining her face in heavenly light and her chocolate orbs stared up into my onyx ones. A small smile played on her lips and her button nose twitched. A light blush coated her cheeks from a comment I had just made about her.

I smile at the memory, letting its warmth encompass me as I lift my hand up to Gramps' forehead. I share the memory with him, feeling it seep through my hand into his mind, and feel his face change from relaxed to tense. Taking my hand off of his forehead, I sit back down and look at him.

His eyes were still shut and he seemed to be thinking over something. He sighs and opens his eyes, "Well… I can tell you this much, Natsu: she lives in Magnolia."

My eyes practically bulge out of my head, "W-what?!"

He nods, "Yup, moved here a year ago. She's twenty today."

It feels like the world stopped spinning, like time froze and it's only me, sitting here, processing what I just heard. _She's… she's here… in_ _Magnolia… after all these years, I finally…_

I take a deep breath and look up at Gramps, my face masking my serious attitude, "Gramps… where is she in Magnolia?"

He looks at me with sad eyes and sighs, "That, Natsu, I cannot tell you. I can't have you stalking a girl saying lovey-dovey stuff when she can't even remember y-"

"Gramps," I cut in, "tell me where she is. I'll make her remember me, one way or another, no matter how long it takes. There may be several lifetimes I have to plow through to make her remember, but she will remember me. _She must, _it's the only way I can protect her from her death, and it's the only way the curse can be broken."

"No, Natsu." He says sternly.

"Gramps, _please_," I whine while he simply shakes his white haired head, "Please, please, _please!_ Do this for me, Gramps!" I sob out, head in my hands. I felt so much more desperate now.

I had totally forgotten about her losing her memories, not wanting to remember that horrid day when she suffered so much pain as her memories were plucked one by one from the parts of her mind she had access to. I had been held back by the angels from going over to comfort her and when I finally got loose, she had no idea who I was or even what her own name was. She had no recollection of anything before that moment and then not soon after was the first time she died, resurrecting in the form of a baby on the other side of the planet.

Now I had to slowly weasel her into her memories that were locked up in the corners of her mind, _if_ I found her. "Gramps, _please_…"

The sadness in his next words was thick like honey and when he spoke I could tell he was choking back a sob. "Natsu, I'm sorry boy… I can't give you that information, but…" I look up at him, my eyes filled with sadness, "I can… I can tell you that if you look up at the stars tonight at the hill with the cherry blossom tree on it, you will find her."

My eyes search his face to see if he was lying just to get me off of his case, and when I don't find any traces of evidence that he was, I shoot up like a rocket and hug the old man.

"Thank you, Gramps," I whisper to him.

He pats my back in response and right when I was about to go he stops me saying he wanted to give me something. He hands me a book labeled, _How to Survive in the Human World: Demon Edition_ by Makarov Dreyar, and quickly adds it had some tips for me if I was going to stay in the human world.

I thank him, but not before pointing out I didn't read and open up a black, cloudy portal to Hell in the middle of his floor. I wipe my tears away and as I jump through I hear him call after me, "Tell Laxus I say hi and to stay out of trouble!"

I grin and soon enough, I was greeted by shouts and brawls going off in every corner of the place I called home, the original _Fairy Tail, _located in nowhere else but Hell.

It was very dark compared to where I just was, and a whole lot colder, but it was much more rowdy and everyone fit under the category of being violent here. This was Hell, and it was perfect for a pyromaniac like me.

Every demon practiced their own specialty and mine was fire dragon slaying. Gramps-even though he hasn't used his abilities in a long time-is what they call a titan demon, where he can change his size and cast powerful demonic magic.

"Hey, Natsu! Where you been?" called a blue flying cat known as Happy, who was also my best friend.

"Just Earth," I answer.

"Is that why your horns aren't visible?" he questions.

I chuckle, "Yeah. Hey, can you do me a favor and tell Laxus his grandfather says hi?" I ask the flying feline.

"Aye sir!" He says before flying off to go tell the blonde, lightning dragon slaying demon.

I continue to walk through the fist fights and up the stairs of the bar and inn and make it to my room, closing the door behind me to look at the book Gramps gave me. I was planning to stay in the human world until I found her, and when I did I was probably going to have to stay there longer to slowly coax her memories back to her without hurting her too badly.

I lie on my bed with my feet dangling off of the back and examine the book. It was a plain, red leather bound book with spidery script that in black ink engraved the title, _How to_ _Survive in the Human World: Demon Edition,_ and Makarov Dreyar.

I flip open to the first yellowing page which, unfortunately, has a lot of words on it so I skip it, figuring it was just an introduction. The next couple of pages were blank and I stopped flipping through them when I saw a big "1". Shrugging, I began to read the page:

1

Make sure your horns are hidden from view, so either use a hat or will them back into your head. We don't want any humans panicking when they figure out the horns aren't a costume.

I mentally check that off of my list of things to do when on Earth. I continue to the next page where I saw a two:

2

Don't use your abilities at all in the human world. Never use your power and try to keep a leveled head. Losing your temper can cause you to emit your power and can cause you to change into your demon form. DON'T CHANGE INTO YOUR DEMON FORM.

I roll my eyes-that was practically common sense. I can't even imagine anything that would really tick me off unless it had something to do with her, but I doubt anything bad could happen now after everything that's happened.

I flip to the next page and keep reading:

3

Never, **ever,** create a portal in a public area. There are too many risky situations that could occur with the humans that can get you in serious problems. And whatever you do, never drag a non-demon through the portal. The consequences are horrible for those who are caught.

I raise my eyebrows at this one. I never actually knew this was something prohibited even though I never saw a human in Hell before. I had always guessed it was because demons never really go to Earth except when doing trading with "Satan worshippers", which involved going to the public portal that connected Hell to Earth.

Shrugging it off, I flip to the next rule/tip:

4

Don't talk about yourself with anyone. Lie, don't tell anyone any personal information save for your name. Never talk about Hell, ever. You never know what could happen…

I frown, well that was odd. Flip:

5

Don't become attached to a human.

_Attached? What is that supposed to mean? Ah whatever…_ flip:

6

Don't eat human food and try not to use transportation.

_What?! But I've heard that human food was the best… and what about transportation? I don't even know what that means…_

Sighing, I decide to stop reading when my head begins to hurt from all of the reading I was doing and instead I begin to plan out how to do my search. Right now all I knew about her was what she looked like and that she was in Magnolia, which still paints quite a vague picture of her whereabouts, but it was still better than before. I should probably start off with going to the public places of Magnolia, pubs and stores, and then walk around the city to see if I'd be lucky enough to spot her on the street. No matter what I'd still go to the hill Gramps told me about at night and see if something happens.

_I have to find her… I have to. _I lick my lips and my eyes soften as I whisper her name, _"Lucy,"_ her name rolls off of my tongue and I begin to feel nostalgic of the times she would be wrapped up in my arms with her head resting on my chest. I can't even remember the last time I said her name, I've always referred to Lucy as 'her' or 'she' and everyone always knew who I meant. I never used her real name anymore, too grief stricken to even talk about her with anyone-unless they had any information related to her location- much less say her melodic name.

"_Lucy,"_ I repeat, "I _will _find you… even if you can't remember me, I remember you, and I will _never_ forget you… even if it's the death of me, I _will_ find you, my love. With your memory or not."

I grab the book and quickly open up a portal in the middle of my bedroom floor to the human world with new found determination. I had to find her, _I must._

**Author's Note:**

**Hope that was satisfying! ; ) Please review and constructional criticism is welcome! (Just don't say stuff like, really mean please! lol) I hope to get the chapter posted by Friday or the weekend, so keep an out for that! **

**Peace!**

**-idevourbooks**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**

**Happy Mother's Day people! I hope you guys have a nice time with your mother's and stuff and well, yeah. So here's a new chapter, hope it doesn't disappoint as much as I think it would! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Three**

**Natsu's POV**

I had searched everywhere. In every pub, restaurant, store, bar, museum, _everywhere,_ yet I still didn't find her. There was once or twice when I thought I saw the same blonde hair, but with a closer look I saw it wasn't her and my imagination was just playing tricks on me. I huff out a deep breath, where could she be? I was in every market and every store in Magnolia, heck, I was even on every _street,_ yet she somehow managed to get around me without even knowing she had. _Maybe she stayed at her_ _house today…_

Clicking my tongue, I look off the balcony I was leaning against and gaze at the sea. The vast ocean was tinted orange from the blazing sun setting behind it, signifying that yet another night was upon the city. It reminds me of what Gramps had said to me earlier today at Fairy Tail.

"_I can tell you that if you look up at the stars tonight at the hill with the cherry blossom tree on it, you will find her."_

I stop my clicking, "Huh…" I say to myself, wondering what in Hell could happen when I got there. Shrugging it off, I reluctantly look away from the captivating sea and scan the area around me.

Magnolia was a small city tucked away into a valley squished between huge mountains, one of them being the infamous Mt. Hakube, so naturally it was a region infested with rolling hills, which made it harder for me to find which hill Gramps was talking about. There were so many and most on the very outskirts of the city where there was only a couple of houses speckled here and there, that it took me a couple of minutes to spot the only one with a Japanese Cherry Blossom planted at the peak of it. It was in the very back of the town, the hill farthest away from the sea, and from me, apparently.

Sighing, I begin to trek away from the balcony and see the last few rays of sunlight slowly disappear and the moon slowly take its place.

I swing onto the top branch of the large tree and find that it hides me from the view of everyone below, but allows me to see them and the brilliant stars that had begun to appear over my head. I look up at the ocean of the twinkling lights against a navy sky and gape and the amount of them. There were thousands of them, all of them different and unique from the next creating tons of patterns and swirls in the sky. Looking at the sky made my heart ache-the stars reminded me so much of her and how she could rave on and on about the specks of light without stopping to take a breath.

I remember how on my sleepless nights, I'd leave Hell and meet her in the meadow connecting Heaven to Earth and we'd lie in the field, holding each other under the millions of stars, until one of us would start up a conversation. We'd talk about our worries and fears, our hopes and dreams, and talk about the most random things, like when humans were going to figure out their "myths" were true.

I also remember her attempting to teach me some of the constellations-which failed miserably. All I learned was the Little and Big Dipper and a couple of the Zodiac symbols, but I let her rant on and on since it made me laugh when she got all frustrated at me for not seeing the map she had in her head. She was always the smarter one in our relationship.

I smile sadly as I stare up at the stars and spot the North Star with ease. Now I just needed to make out the other ones that made the Big Dipper…

**Lucy's POV**

The hill continued to incline and if I hadn't already climbed this hill every day for the past year, I would've fainted by now. I was never really the one for sports-or anything athletic, really-and how I kept my good shape was a mystery to me… until I ran away from that house and tried pizza and ice cream. _Then _I knew I had my nice body thanks to the fat free household I had lived in. The only reason I was still in good shape was because of my light appetite and the fact I walked everywhere, even up this far-away hill I dubbed "where-only-those-doing-a-bet-would-walk".

Breathing hard, I was half way up the hill and was regretting the decision I made to bring my bulky, five pound telescope with me along with my backpack. Not only were both of them strapped to my tiny frame, but they were also making it harder for me to see where I was stepping and had made me fall face-first to the ground twice already.

Taking another forced step, I also regret letting myself get sick and staying locked up in my house for a week until today, my birthday, when I finally crawled out of bed at five in the morning to get ready for work. For an entire week I literally hadn't even moved from my bed to do anything, except use the bathroom and get some medicine, which has made me a little bit out of shape.

I finally make it to the top of the hill, huffing and puffing like a little old man and thank the God above for letting me make it without falling again. I wipe the sweat off of my forehead with the back of my hand and re-roll my sweater's sleeves up my arm. I plod towards the cherry blossom tree and sling my telescope and backpack off of my back before leaning against its cool bark and sigh. I close my eyes and let the light breeze envelope me before huffing out a breath and leaning down to fetch my telescope.

I clutch it in both of my hands and haul it over to a leveled part of the ground to begin setting it up. I place it on my tripod and position it so I have the perfect view of the section of the sky I wanted to study. I tug over my backpack from the tree as well and tear it open to retrieve my notebook and pencil before peering into the telescope's eyepiece.

I stare at nothing for a couple seconds before realizing I still had the lens protector still on the objective lens and without moving my head I deftly remove the protector to see something that definitely wasn't stars, but something even more interesting.

**Natsu's POV**

I had smelt the stranger's vanilla and cherry blossom scent before I heard their pants and the small curses under their breath. _Is this what_ _Gramps meant by what he said? But, who would be out here now?_

Looking down, I catch I glimpse of gold and my eyes widen. _"If you look up at the stars tonight at the hill with the cherry blossom tree on it, you will_ _find her." Is… could it…?_ I gulp and slowly make my way down the tree, pausing on the last branch when I see a girl walking right underneath me with a backpack strung on her back. I quietly maneuver myself off of the branch and deftly land onto the lush, green grass below me.

Straightening, I silently walk behind the girl and notice I stood at least a good foot taller than her. She walked with long determined strides and her hips swung back and forth with her movement as if she were dancing to a song. Her golden locks were up in a bun and reflected the moon's light back to the sky. She wore a brown, flowing sweater that spread out behind her like a cape and her skinny jeans gripped to her every curve, ending in brown combat boots.

It was too good to be true. Every detail-except the clothing-about the stranger in front of me matched up perfectly to the girl I used to love two hundred years ago. It just couldn't be though. I had spent all of these years searching and searching, and now she shows up on an isolated hill? It just wouldn't happen to me, it _couldn't _happen to someone like me-there was no such thing as coincidences for demons.

I stop when she kneels on the ground and pulls out a pencil and notebook before she closes one of her eyes and places the other right in front of this weird contraption. I sneak around her and look at the other side of the contraption, my face a mere centimeters away from her small hand that reaches up and grabs a black piece of plastic off of the contraption and underneath I see her chocolate brown eye.

I hear her heart stop and her chocolate eye widens at the sight of me. I raise an eyebrow at her and then she screams, backing away from me. I rear back and stare at her in surprise, not expecting her to do _that. _She stops her ear splitting screech as quick as she started it and props herself up on her elbows, staring at me with wide eyes.

I stared at her as well and took in her every detail, from her porcelain skin to her big doe eyes. Her face was heart shaped with golden bangs coming down to her eyebrows and her lips were formed into a small pout as her eyes scanned me as well-she seemed more curious than scared now. My eyes traveled their way down her curvy body and then back up to her chocolate eyes.

There was no doubt in my mind now-I knew exactly who this was. Even after all of these years, she's more breathtaking every time. I have finally found her, and I am never letting her out of my sight again.

**Author's Note:**

**Good? Bad? I'll leave that for you guys to decide. Please review (constructional criticism is welcome) and I hope to get the next chapter out by either sometime this week or next weekend the latest.  
**

**Stay well, my friends. Adios amigos. **

**-idevourbooks**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! Sorry if you were expecting this to come out a little earlier, but this is the longest chapter yet and well, I had a lot of homework this week so if there are any mistakes please mentally change them in your head (that's what I always do lol). Anyways, enjoy and make sure to CHECK OUT THE AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END!**

******Chapter**** Four**

**Lucy's POV**

The shriek had escaped my lips without me even thinking it over and I quickly shut my mouth, surprised at myself. I try to breathe evenly and it takes a couple seconds for my heart to stop pounding in my ears. I will myself to calm down and I slowly wiggle my conscious into a weak form of courageousness, figuring if he wanted something from me he wouldn't be standing there at the moment doing nothing. I cautiously open my eyes I didn't realize were closed and stare at the man before me, his spiky, cotton candy locks the first thing my eyes wander to.

I mentally raise an eyebrow at them, wondering if it was dyed, but then cross that thought off when I notice his eyebrows are the same color-I mean, who dyes their _eyebrows,_ like seriously? But who am I to judge if it's dyed or not. I reluctantly tear my gaze away from his striking hair and my eyes roll over his well-toned body. He wore only an open black vest that showed off his tan, muscular chest with puffy, white pants that ended at his mid-calf. A white, scaly scarf wrapped around his neck that for some reason reminded me of dragon scales.

_He's handsome…_ I internally face palm myself. Wow, way to go Lucy, mentally compliment the guy who scared the crap out of you.

Hesitantly, I bring my eyes up to his face and I am met with the darkest eyes I have ever seen before. His eyes were like charcoal, a deep onyx that made me lose track of my thoughts. The ebony orbs were captivating and I immediately got lost in them, my heart stopping when they stare back at my boring brown eyes.

We stay frozen like that, staring into one another's eyes for what seems like forever until I see out of the corner of my eyes a burst of light. I forcefully tug my gaze away from him to my notebook and pencil and remember what I came here for.

The main reason I came up here today was not because it was my birthday and I needed some alone time, but because over my past few months of research, I've been able to pin point when Magnolia's next infamous-and rare-meteor shower was supposed to occur, and well-it was happening right this second! I scramble off of the ground and race towards my telescope, grabbing my notebook and pencil off of the ground at the same time, and plop down in front of it, thanking God that handsome Mr. Pinky-whose name I do not know and this nickname should do as long as I don't say it in front of his face-over there wasn't near my baby anymore (yes, I call my telescope my baby, so what?).

I place my eye up to the eyepiece and see a certain section of the night sky filled with stars from red to blue. A spark by the rim of my vision catches my eye and I nimbly move my hands to the telescope, adjusting it so my baby can move as fast as my greedy eyes and zoom in, following in on the first meteor of the night.

I grin, "Yes," I whisper and I remove my eye away from the eyepiece and look down at my notebook to start jotting down notes, my head moving between the telescope and my notebook every couple of seconds.

I am so caught up in my own little "accomplished mission" that I don't even realize Pinky was still there and I almost scream-yet again-when he creeps up behind me and goes, "You're a big nerd for astrology you know that, right?"

I literally have to bite my tongue to keep the ear splitting shriek contained. I slowly turn my head to the side and just as I suspected, Pinky was right there next to me, his body adjusted in a way so that his head was hovering over my shoulder and he could see what I was writing.

I lick my lips and take a deep breath, "Have you ever heard of heart attacks?"

He raises a pink eyebrow at me, "Yeah…?"

I smile sweetly, "'Cause you almost gave me one-_twice_."

His mouth turns into an 'o', then into a small frown and he nods his head, "Sorry about that."

I raise my eyebrows, "It's okay, really, it's just, it's sort of late out and I am alone on a hill and, well, I don't even know you-heck, I don't even know your name…"

He grins and sticks his hand out in front of me, "I'm Natsu."

I furrow my eyebrows, but I put my hand in his ridiculously warm ones and mumble out, "Lucy."

He shakes my hand and when he pulls away he says, "See, now we know each other's name. I believe that is the first step in any relationship."

I smirk at Natsu, he was one sneaky guy. I shake my head at him, "You are one smart guy, huh?"

He snorts, "Me? Smart? No way Luigi, I'm considered one of the densest men alive. I can just be sly if I wish for it hard enough."

I giggle, but then abruptly stop and I turn my body all the way around to face him, "My name's Lucy. LU-CY, L-U-C-Y DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

He laughs so hard he practically pisses his pants and he points at my face, "You should see your face," he cackles.

I frown, "Hmph," he was totally _not_ getting my point. I turn around back to my telescope and I begin to jot down more notes.

A couple more meteors had begun to appear during my conversation with Natsu and more were appearing every minute. I quickly estimate the distance they were traveling and I mentally time how long it took them to travel that far to conclude they were going 177,089 mph, a lot faster than the average meteor. I quickly jot down their speed and count how many meteors had appeared in about the ten seconds I had before Natsu was back to hovering over my shoulder.

Now, if I were any other human, I would've pushed Natsu off of me by now and scold him, but since I came from a place where I never really had any friends or, well, human contact to be exact, I didn't do that. I just sat there jotting down more notes as he watched me and I sort got used to him being there after a couple minutes. He was like a furnace and kept me nice and toasty without having to even touch me which I _so_ took advantage of since I was the idiot who thought it would be perfectly fine if I were to go to a mini mountain without a coat.

Sure, I thought it was odd he was this freaking warm on a fucking mini mountain, like what the Hell? Is he sick or something? I don't want to get sick again! I've got rent to pay, God dammit! _But_ I just sat there, taking pleasure out of the situation at hand where I got to do my research _and_ have a free, personal, walking furnace.

I finish jotting down the information I gathered about the meteors and I close my notebook and stuff it into my backpack along with my pencil, before resting my head on my left hand while the other one picks at the grass. I stare up at the night sky streaked with sparkling lights and I spot some of the constellations automatically. The Big Dipper and Little Dipper stand out like a sore thumb to me and I easily spot the Canis Minor not long after. I practically memorized where all of the constellations were and it was fairly easy to find them in Magnolia where almost every star known to man was able to be seen.

"I can only remember where the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper are," Natsu mumbles from behind me.

My mouth quirks up at the edges, "Well, if you look right there," I close one of my eyes and point up at the sky, "and right there, and connect those with that star, aka Altair, you have the Summer Triangle constellation."

I turn my head and look at him, he seems to somewhat see it and I roll my eyes at him, "I guess it's only visible for those who have been astronomy geeks for most of their life."

He chuckles, "I don't know if I should take that as an insult or if you just insulted yourself."

I scrunch up my face and look at him, "Sort of both, I guess."

He grins, "You are one weird girl, Luce."

I frown, _Luce? No one's ever called me anything but Lucy, and they've known me for almost a year…_ I eventually smile though, thinking maybe a nickname wouldn't be that bad-I've never had one anyways.

We sit there like that for what seemed like hours but was only minutes and soon enough I realize I have to get going-I had the early morning shift at Fairy Tail tomorrow. I begin to get up and start to pack up my telescope when Natsu comes over and tries to help me.

I brush him off and say, "No way, José. You see this equipment? Twenty _thousand_ jewel. No way in _Hell_, am I allowing you to pack it up."

He stares at me like I'm crazy, "You paid that much for a fucking magnifying glass?"

I scoff, "Excuse me? This is the cheapest _telescope_ in the market! It's the only thing I can afford, Pinky!"

He looks at me in shock and I quickly realize what I just said. No man-_no man-_ would want to be insulted about his hair, and I did just that.

"Oh, no, no, no, this-" he points at his hair "-is _salmon,_ not _pink._"

I open my mouth to say something-like a sorry or something-but with my stupidity streak, I couldn't end it there. "Is it dyed?"

His mouth becomes a thin line, "Now you've asked for it!"

My eyes widen as he menacingly runs straight at me and he… he… _tickles me?_ A fit of giggles over throw my body as he tickles me up and down my spine and I can't stop. I can't catch my breath as he ferociously tickles me in my soft spots and my sides begin to hurt from all of the laughing.

I accidently snort and he laughs, "Well _that's_ attractive!" I laugh even harder and soon enough we are both laughing and he has to stop tickling me to keep us both standing.

The last of my giggles escape me and I realize my position. I was leaning against him and my hands were on his chest, my head tucked underneath his chin. I clear my throat and pull away from him blushing hard.

He looks at me concerned and asks, "Are you okay? Your cheeks are really red, almost like a tomato…"

I grin, "Yeah, just a little out of breath."

He smiles goofily back and nudges me saying, "Now you know to never insult my hair again."

I roll my eyes, "Uh-huh, I'm_ never_ going to again." I say sarcastically before I finish packing up my stuff. I haul my backpack on my shoulder and attempt to sling my five pound telescope-which felt like a ton to my muscle free body-onto my back. I fail the first three times before Natsu grabs it from me and effortlessly slings it onto his shoulder.

I pout, "I could've done that…"

He snorts and tells me to lead the way. Before I move, though, I think of all of the negative things that could happen if I do bring him to my apartment:

1. He could stalk me.

2. He could potentially murder me.

3. He could steal my belongings.

4. He could bury me deep underneath the ground of my apartment with snakes in the box I was trapped in and I could still be alive with only a lighter and cell phone to tell my friends that I love them.

Okay, the fourth one seems very unlikely, but hey, didn't that truck driver in that movie go through the same thing? Ah, whatever, I've seen to many movies and my stupid writers mind is affecting my decisions now.

Dismissing my _exotic_ ideas, I walk side by side with Natsu as we quietly make our way down the mini mountain. When we begin to enter the outskirts of Magnolia, I decide to start up a conversation.

"So… are you new here?" I ask.

"I guess, yeah," he looks at me, "why?"

I shrug, "Don't know, just curious I guess."

He smirks, "I've noticed."

I shove him light heartedly and blush while he laughs at me. When he stops laughing, I try again, "When did you move here?"

He scratches the back of his head, "Uh… you see that's the thing… I'm actually not moved in yet…"

I furrow my eyebrows, "So what? Are you like, a hobo or something?" I giggle and he rolls his onyx eyes.

"_No,"_ he says, "I just haven't found a place to stay at yet."

"So you _are_ sleeping on the streets." I kid.

"No, I'm, ugh," he looks at me, "you are so persistent, you know that, right?"

I grin, "The one and only."

He rolls his eyes, "Yes, Master. Anyways, I'm staying at some hotel downtown."

I nod my head, "Fancy smancy stuff, huh?"

He snorts, "Sure, however you want to picture a _'hobo'_ living in style."

We turn onto my street that was currently lit by a crappy city lamp opposite of the canal. I come to a stop at my apartment building and thank Natsu, saying I can take it from here. He frowns at me and says he could take me to the door of my apartment and my weak body agrees with him. I fish out my keys and let us both inside before stomping up the stairs with Natsu trailing behind me.

I make it to my apartment and thank Natsu once again. He grins and says he would see me around and when he was at the door I yell down to him, "Fairy Tail! I-I work at Fairy Tail for the early morning shift tomorrow as well as the evening shift. So, umm, stop by, okay?" and before he could say anything I haul my stuff into my apartment and shut the door.

Why I just did that-I have no idea, but he seemed too familiar for me to not say anything at all. Plus he was sort of hot… No! Bad Lucy! 

**Author's Note:**

**Hope that was satisfying! And now for the reason I wanted you all to look at this author's note is because... drum roll, please... do you guys want me to start another story? I've been debating back and forth about this and I have no idea if I should or shouldn't so I decided to ask you guys. Now, if I do start another story, it means I'll be updating this story every week and a half or so (same goes for the other story)until the end of June and I don't know if you'd be upset about that or not. Please leave your thoughts about the chapter and the second story in the review section and I will see what you guys think! **

**Peace!  
-idevourbooks**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

**YES! FINALLY FINISHED THE CHAPPIE! Oh, hey guys. Sorry if you were expecting this sooner but I had HUGE writer's block so... yeah. I like how it turned out. Hope you guys do too, umm... enjoy!**

**Chapter Five**

**Lucy's POV**

He came into Fairy Tail at exactly a quarter to eight, his pink-I'm sorry, _salmon_-spikes the first thing I spot. I watch him from where I am in the very back of the restaurant and bar and soon enough a T-Rex looking lady-complete with the entire big head and tiny arms look-stands up right in front of my view. _C'mon… move it Dino Gal…_

I eventually realize my attempt at telepathy was _not_ getting me anywhere so instead I move to try to get a better view of him, which results in me 'gracefully' walking into a wall with Cana commenting, "Cough, fail, cough."

I stick my tongue out at her before I draw my attention back to my stalkee-_wait, no, I am not stalking him. Fix that to just Natsu, not_ _stalkee. I am not stalking him right now._ I internally face palm and continue to look at the hot and lean pinkette.

He appeared to have already met Gray, judging by the fact they were having a fight, Natsu and our host. Their brawl was scaring away customers, I mean people were probably thinking, "_What a nice place,_ _let's go-OH MY LAWD THIS IS NOT A SAFE AREA."_

Thankfully, not long after the "Red-Haired Demon"-Erza-arrived for her night shift and swiftly knocked some sense into the two with a pipe she somehow managed to pull out of her _blouse_ and put it back in with ease. Gray eventually took Natsu to a table with two chairs that just happened to be in my section.

I quickly compose myself and walk over to his table with Cana hooting and hollering to me. I ignore her and whip out my pen and pad. I clear my voice and Natsu looks up at me and grins, "Oh, hey Luce."

I smile back, "Hey, I'll be your waitress for today-or tonight. Whatever floats your boat."

He chuckles, "I could really care less."

I heave a relieved sigh, "Great, you'll be my best customer of the night. So… what can I get you to drink?"

"I'll be fine with water, thanks," he gestures to his glass of water on the table.

I grin deviously as I remember part of our conversation from yesterday and decide to bring it up again, "Ah, I see, so you take the complimentary drinks instead of having to pay for a different drink-second sign that you actually _are_ a hobo."

He scoffs, "What?"

I smirk, "Nothing…"

He raises his eyebrows at me before shrugging it off, mumbling, "What a weird chick."

"Excuse me?" I place my hands on my hips and he just replies with a "nothing". _Oh my Mavis, that little shiitake mushroom just sassed me didn't he._ I huff out an annoyed breath, guess he's not as dumb as he claims he is, _but then again…_

I internally roll my eyes at myself before turning my attention back to a smirking, pink-haired, idiot, "Well played, Natsu. Well played… anyways, what can I get you to eat?"

He frowns and furrows his eyebrows, as if he was remembering something, before he says, "I'm fine with nothing."

I look at him incredulously-_well that's a first._ I lick my lips and open my mouth to say something, but when nothing comes out, I just shrug, "Okay… umm… so you want… _nothing?_"

He nods his head, "Yeah I guess," he scratches the back of his neck, "I mean, to be honest I didn't even come here for the food…" my heart skips a beat and I can feel a blush creeping onto my cheeks.

"Well," I start, "my shifts over in like, fifteen minutes so…" my eyes find the floor and decide they like the view. _Yeah, cherry floorboards are the_ _bomb. _

"You can wait here if you want." I look up to see him smiling from ear to ear.

"See you then," he says.

I nod my head and walk away with a skip in my step and my cheeks flaming. I make it to my last table of the night that was currently stuffing their faces with our lava cake and give them their check before finding my way to the women staff's locker room. Once inside, I close the door and make sure no one was in there before doing my victory dance that looked a lot like a monkey with rabies.

_I, Lucy Heartfilia, have a date! At least I think it's a date… whatever! Who cares I basically just asked a guy out! Or did he technically ask me…? OH MY GOD A GUY ASKED ME OUT! CALL 911 I MUST BE DYING._

I finish my shift right on time-eight on the dot-and change back into my dark washed jeans and red high rise tank top. I slip on my beige, crocheted sweater and trade my converse for black pumps. I let down my golden locks and fix up my makeup-bright red lipstick and mascara with a little eyeliner and that's it.

Grabbing my messenger bag, I leave the locker room and find my way back to the table I last saw Natsu at. When I get there, I don't see the pinkette anywhere and I scan the dining room to see if I can spot his salmon spikes. When I come up empty, I frown and cuss under my breath. _He stood me up, didn't he?_

Pouting, I make my way to an empty seat at the bar and decide to wait a couple of minutes before going. Who knows, he might just be in the bathroom or something. I wait for fifteen minutes before checking the clock to see it was eight thirty. Sighing, I hop off of the bar stool and clomp towards the entrance/exit of the restaurant and bar, and walk outside into the warm night.

The moon was full and the stars bright, making it the perfect night to star gaze. I spot Aquarius right away as well as Cancer, and I even find Phoenix after a few minutes. I smile sadly up at them-I remember when I was still living in that place my only friends were the stars and a couple of my most trusted maids who felt more like family than even my own father.

I sometimes miss my maids, like Mrs. Spetto who was always there for me when my mother died. We both missed her warm personality, so I guess we grieved together finding it was better than grieving alone-which first sprouted our friendship. I recall how broken she was when I begged her to help me run away and fake my death-I swear you could hear her sobs from a mile away.

I blink my eyes a couple of times to try and get the tears to go away, but I knew the only way these tears were going to leave was if I let them spill.

_I can't though…_ I lick my red lips and begin to make my way home, the unshed tears blurring my eyesight.

I didn't get that far before my eyes couldn't contain the tears for much longer, but I willed them to not spill. _I can't let the past get to me-I_ _have to live in the present. Ugh, the present isn't much better either! _

Thoughts of how my evening was going so far filled my already troubled mind and a whole other wave of frustration and sadness washed over me._ I don't know why Natsu standing me up is even that bad, though! But… but… it is bad! I just… don't know why, but it hurts! Ugh! Why did I have to be an emotionally distressed girl, dammit!_ I pout and more of my tears begin to build up in my eyes, yet I wasn't going to allow myself to cry over some guy. I mean sure, I felt betrayed and sad, but that didn't give me the right to cry. _C'mon Lucy! GIRL POWER!_

"LUCE! WAIT UP!" startles me out of my thoughts and I quickly wipe up the tears welling in my eyes so no one would know I was about to cry. I turn around in shock to see Natsu running over to me, two cups of coffee in tow.

I raise my eyebrows as he catches up to me and hands me one of the cups. I cautiously take it and eye him curiously, what exactly _just _happened?

"I," huff, "I went to some," huff, "give me a second..." huff,_ "wow _I'm out of shape... coffee shop on the corner and got some coffee while I was waiting for you and the line was practically out the door so it took me a half an hour just to order. When I got back to Fairy Tail you weren't there and when I asked that red-haired monster if she knew where you were, she told me you had just left. So I-"

"Thank you, Natsu," I cut in, "No one's ever done that for me before." I smile at him and hug him, burrowing into his warm chest as I quickly forget about what I was about to cry over two seconds ago.

He's stiff at first, but he eventually hugs me back, his head resting on top of mine that-even with heels on-only came up to his chin. Natsu was like a big teddy bear, warm (irregularly warm for someone of the human race), soft (yet _very_ muscular), he even has the black eyes a teddy bear should have.

We stood like that for a while until whistles and inappropriate comments came our way which we then let go of one another. I blush a deep red and sip my hot coffee-two sugars and cream, _perfect._

I clear my throat, "So…"

"So…" Natsu answers back, staring into his untouched cup of coffee, "Did you know I've never had coffee before?"

I almost choke on my own spit, "What?! Are you serious?"

He sheepishly nods his head and looks up at me, my face a mask of disbelief. "Oh my God, you speak the truth," he chuckles and I click my tongue, "Oh, then that means we must make your first time drinking this heavenly drink known as coffee the best fucking cup of coffee you'll ever have in your entire measly fucking life."

He laughs and I grin as I slide my hand into his and interlock our fingers, dragging him back the way we came. When he asks where we're going, I answer with where he got the coffee and he moans, saying, "But I just _left_ that fattening gingerbread house."

Giggling, I drag him inside the coffee shop (that actually sort of did resemble a gingerbread house) and take him towards the counter where all of the pastries were. I tell him to pick one out while I prepared his coffee-which he had thankfully left black. I made my way towards the little table in the back and tried to figure out what I should put in his drink. I finally decide on a little bit of sugar and cream with a hint of cinnamon, guessing that by the looks of it he was more of a spicy guy than sweet.

When I was finished, I grabbed us a table in the back next to the window where I sipped some more of my cooling coffee. Soon enough, Natsu came over with a pumpkin doughnut in one hand and a chocolate croissant in the other. He handed me the croissant which I gingerly took a bite out of and sat down across from me, staring intently at the coffee and doughnut laid out in front of him.

I raise an eyebrow, "What? It's not like it's going to bite or anything."

He shakes his head before bringing his attention back up to me, "Sorry, it's just… I've never actually eaten this thing-"

"A doughnut," I cut in.

"-or anything like it. To be honest, I've never even _heard_ of _'coffee'_ until this wavy, brown-haired girl," _Cana_, I thought, "told me you like it."

I try to process what he was saying, but all I came up with was, "You got coffee because you heard I liked it?"

He shrugs, "Yeah…?"

I smirk, "Never mind, never mind-uh-try it, I guess."

He narrows his eyes at me, "Are you sure I'm going to like it?"

I scoff, "Of course, dumb ass! I called it _'heavenly drink' _not that long ago, didn't I?"

He skeptically peers into his cup, "I don't know… it has a weird smell to it…"

"HEY! I made that mister!" I huff at him.

He rolls his eyes at me before picking up his cup and taking a mouthful of the drink, thoroughly tasting it before swallowing. He closes his eyes, before looking at me-probably at the edge of my seat at the moment-and says, "Holy shit, this is amazing."

"YES!" I cheer while fist pumping the air, "YES, YES, YES! I did it, you like it! I'm a caffeine savior!" he guffaws at my antics and motions for me to settle down as he picks up the pumpkin doughnut and takes a bite out of the pastry.

"Damn this is good," he says in the middle of chewing his doughnut so pieces of food fly everywhere.

I smile, "YES! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!"

He grins and shakes his head at me before scarfing down the rest of his doughnut and chugging his coffee. He somehow manages to keep his scaly scarf from being ruined and I quickly finish up my coffee and chocolate croissant, striking up a conversation about food.

I check the clock on the wall of the now almost empty coffee shop to see it was eleven o'clock. _Wow, we talked for that long?_ I stretch and look at Natsu who was currently admiring the busy streets of Magnolia. The bright city lights were reflected in his black eyes and his mouth was set in a straight line of concentration. His hair was tousled and he played with the end of his scarf as he thought about God knows what. _Cute… no! Bad Lucy! You just met him yesterday!_

I yawn to get his attention before announcing I was going home which he automatically answers with an offer to walk me which I gladly take. Soon we were out the door of the little shop and under the moonlit sky of Magnolia. Our shoulders skimmed the others as we walked in silence to my street. As we neared my door, I couldn't help but feel as if I was once in a similar situation…

_He walked me to the meadow where we would go our separate ways, yet I didn't want to go-I didn't want to leave him. I wanted to stay a little bit longer in his warms arms, but I knew I couldn't do that. _

_Ever since Head Angel Porlyusica had begun to notice I wasn't in my living area at night like I should be, she's tried to confront me about it, making up a ton of possibilities, yet none of her tall tales matched up with what was really happening. Eventually, she ended up giving a curfew with the punishment being no light for a month, so of course I made it in my best interest to follow up with her expectations._

_I was nearing the portal now that would take me to Heaven, to where I belonged. __**But I belong here, with Natsu,**__ I thought. I turned my head to look up at the pinkette expecting to see his normal, care free expression, but when his eyes aren't trained on me and he masks an expression I couldn't read, I know something was wrong. _

_I follow to where his gaze is and my heart drops into my stomach. Angels, some who were my friends and some who were strangers, stood at the opening of the portal. _

_I heard one of my friend's voice-Juvia Lockster, one of the Water Guardians of Heaven-loud and clear in my head as she telepathically spoke to me, __**"Lucy Celestial-one of the Star Guardians of Heaven-and Natsu**__**Dragneel of Hell, you are here by sentenced to your fate in the Palace of the Void. Please come with us."**_

_I shook my head at her and looked my friend straight in the eyes, she broke under my stare and looked away with tears in her eyes, "Juvia…?" I asked aloud. _

_She began to tremble and I could hear her sniffles from here.__** She**__**doesn't want this…whatever this is.**__ Then another one of the Angels, I believe his name was Lyon of the Ice Guardians, came up to Natsu and I, his silver hand cuffs for me and gold handcuffs for Natsu already out. _

_I cross my fingers, hoping Natsu hadn't seen the magical handcuffs already, but know it was too late for that when he roughly pushes me behind him and gets into his fighting stance. __**Oh no, he's going to get**__**serious… and if he does something stupid he's going to get us both into more trouble-**_

_I unconsciously wrap my arms around Natsu in hopes to restrain him from being the idiot he is, but he pushes me off and begins to yell at me, "RUN LUCY, RUN!"_

_Lyon advanced on him and created ice eagles that cut through the air at Natsu. I gasp in worry for him, but when his signature red flames shoot out into the air, I know I had nothing to fear, or at least I thought._

"_LUCY RUN!"_

_I stayed planted to my spot in the meadow, noticing something was coming from the portal, that something definitely not friendly looking. _

"_RUN GOD DAMMIT!"_

_Through the portal came something I never would've thought could have been in Heaven, maybe Hell, but not my home. A jet black creature emerged from the blinding light, its red eyes showing how blood lusty it was._

_I gulp and I feel my knees give way to gravity. __**This is not happening.**__**This is not happening. This is not happening.**__ I told myself that over and over again as the creature trained its gaze on me. I could feel my eyes widen as it crept closer and closer to me. I thought I heard Natsu in the background yelling at me to run, to get out of here, but I couldn't move, it was as if the creature wouldn't let me move._

_It was five feet away now. Four feet… three… two…_

"LUCY!"

My eyes flung open and I looked around me to see a concerned Natsu above me with the night sky behind him_. It wasn't real. It wasn't real…_ _but it was so realistic…_

I began to shake and I felt tears sting my eyes the second time that day. I threw myself at Natsu, practically making him fall over and began sobbing into his chest.

_It was so real…_

**Author's Note:**

**How was it? Good? Bad? Well, whatever you thought, please review, I love seeing what you guys have to say. Oh! And by the way, go check out my other story, The Invisibles... oh God I have to update that too. **

**-idevourbooks**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, but between school being almost over and the other story I'm working on (which I recommend you check out *wink wink*) it takes a while for me to write a good, solid chapter. ANYWAYS, enough of my life problems...**

**Enjoy!**

**-idevourbooks**

**Chapter Six**

**Natsu's POV**

Lucy threw herself at me, crying so hard that I have to carry her the rest of the way to her apartment princess style-her sobbing into my tee-shirt (which is now soaked) all the way.

Standing at her door, I unlock the apartment with the pair of keys she shakily offers to me, and make my way through her dark apartment to her bedroom. I sit on her bed that was right next to the window-which was also _extremely_ comfy-with her still huddled together on my lap, refusing to let go of me.

Softly, I rub circles on her arched back in an attempt to calm the bawling blonde. Eventually, she stops crying, yet it was obvious she was still shaken up about what had happened-due to the fact she was still clinging to me like a life line. After a couple of more minutes, I feel her stop shaking and I hear her breath begin to come out in shaky, even breaths as she clutches onto the collar of my tee.

I gently tilt her heart-shaped face up towards mine to see her chocolate brown eyes rimmed with red and her cheeks raw from the hot tears that flowed down her face not long ago. Her mouth creates a small pout and she still seems distressed, even though she tries not to show it. I caress her cheek with my thumb and ask what happened.

Her chocolate orbs stare into my onyx ones intently-as if debating whether or not she should tell me what she saw. As if making up her mind, she opens her mouth to hoarsely whisper to me, "Nothing…" _Liar_, I think, _something definitely happened in that little golden head of_ _yours-you just don't want to tell me_.

"I just… I don't know… it was nothing though… my weird imagination playing tricks on me, I guess," her eyes dart away from mine and instead fascinate themselves with the hard wood floors of her bedroom, reassuring my theory that she was, in fact, lying. She never looks me in the eyes when she's lying-funny how habits of her past self still stay with her current self.

It hurt me a little, the fact she didn't trust me. Someone I've loved for hundreds of years-who I've searched high and low for, for what seems like forever-doesn't trust me and it… _stings. _It hurts me-but that was why I had to make her remember… so we can be what we were before-_no,_ so we could be_ better_ than what we were before. So we can be how we were, except this time we wouldn't be torn apart.

I wrap my arms around her body more tightly than before and burrow my face into her hair, the sweet smell of strawberries that I missed so much filling my nose. Luce wraps her arms around my torso and rests her head on my chest, huffing out a deep breath.

I smirk into her hair, "Liar," I mumble out.

"Eh?" she says into my chest.

"You're a liar," I repeat.

"How so?" she questions, her voice reflecting her curiosity.

"Well," I start, "you're saying you're fine and that what just happened was nothing to freak out over, but you scared me back there…" My jaw tightens and I remember what had occurred, the horrifying scene playing over in my head as I begin to explain to Luce what I had seen happen.

"You had just stopped suddenly in the middle of the road, glassy eyed and expressionless, frozen in your own world. I had stood there, confused, and I tried to get your attention, but you didn't respond to me. Then your brown eyes grew wide, and you suddenly fell to your knees. I tried calling your name, but you just knelt there… your face reflecting the pure fear of whatever you were seeing in that mind of yours. Now I was really getting freaked out, and when I tried shaking you… you started screaming this… this _blood-curdling_ howl of pure terror.

"I began to panic then, shaking you and yelling your name even louder, asking what was wrong. Your screams eventually became more louder and your eyes grew to the size of saucers. I caught you when you fell to the ground unconscious. No more screams or anything like that… and then you opened your eyes… and, well, you know what happens after that." _It was horrifying-I thought you were_ _already slipping through my fingers like sand, and I could do nothing about it… just watch you suffer and die right in front of me._ I actually wanted to say that, but instead I think better of it and leave that little bit out. It would only lead to more questions and Luce didn't need the answers quite yet.

I feel Lucy hug me tighter and she mumbles something so muffled that a human would never be able to understand. But being a demon with heightened senses, I understood every word that came out of her mouth, "I'm sorry you had to see that… I didn't think it would be that… that… _that eerie._ I'm sorry, Natsu."

I tighten my grip on her and burrow my entire face into her neck, where her scent of strawberries was strongest, and take in a large whiff of the intoxicating scent. I hold her against me, almost afraid that if I let go, she'd vanish into thin air all over again as she did two hundred years earlier.

We stay like that for what seems like forever, and when I finally let go, her clock's blinking 12:04 and she's fast asleep in my arms. Smirking, I lay her down on her bed and cover her with the pink quilt folded at the foot of her mattress, before making my way towards her apartment door. As I'm reaching for the lock, I realize that if I went through the front door, then that would mean it would be unlocked for _anyone_ to come in. _And if anything were to happen to Luce…_

Frowning, I walk away from the front door and back to Lucy's room. I strut right up to the bed and carefully climb over the sleeping blonde to her windows. I slide one open and look out to see that the second floor in the human world… was _not _as far away from the ground as people made it out to be-claiming people broke bones from falling out of them.

I guess it must be different for humans, considering how fragile they were (except for that red headed demon, Erza, she could kick a mountain down with one blow) and how demons were what you'd call, more "advanced". Our senses were more enhanced than others'-for example, my super-human hearing-and our bodies could withstand more, so we couldn't be taken down that easily.

Also, our emotions were heightened to a whole other level compared to humans, like when we're angry-we see red. Or when we're sad, we can't control ourselves. And when we love-which was _extremely_ rare-we loved passionately, having one love all of our life, never to love another. As long as it wasn't angels, we could love-which is a rule I've broken two hundred years ago.

Sighing, I hop off of her window sill and easily land on the ground below. "Piece of cake," I mutter before walking into the alley next to her apartment.

I glance around me in search of any signs of humans-just in case if any drunkards were out and about-before I get down on one knee and press my right hand's knuckles to the damp, cobble stone ground, whispering the word, _"Aperi."_

The faint outline of red and gold scales form on my body and I can feel my pupils become slits as black smoke emerges from the ground, swirling round and round, faster and faster, until it forms a tight circle of black smoke on the ground of the alleyway. _Ah… my ticket to Hell lies right here with this portal._

Rising to my feet, I allow my trapped horns to break free of their restraints and sigh in relief-it was hard keeping those three-inch long, pointy-bastards under the radar. Shaking my head, I hop into the portal and land right outside of the original _Fairy Tail_, its jet black lettering challenging all who opposed the boisterous residence.

I gaze out at Hell, its blood red skies clashing with the dark, sinister looking buildings that were the urban area, filled with cunning demons-some more than others-who resided on every street. In every nook and cranny there was trouble, so in order to survive you had to be the top dog-and of course, the older you got, the more respect you gained since it showed how long you've been fighting to live. _Yes, what a lovely_ _hometown._

Tugging on my horns, I turn around and kick open the doors to a rowdy Fairy rambunctious guild of demons was filled to the brim with tipsy immortals-ranging from the happy drunks to the angry drunks-hanging out at the numerous tables and the bar. For those who couldn't find a seat, you could locate them lurking in the corners of the room-doing the Devil knows what-or lounging on the stairs that led to the apartments demons-like me-rented out.

I spot a spiky blonde head of hair and groan-already knowing which fuck face that was-before I search the sea of wasted demons for two of my friends-which I conveniently spy at the bar. I make a beeline for them and pray that blonde prick over there doesn't see me-he's only going to get on my nerves and that definitely won't benefit him.

Reaching the bar, I slap my two intoxicated friends on the back-which earns me a wry smile from my friend, Jellal, and a glare from my other friend, Gajeel. Grinning, I motion the blue-pig-tailed bar tender over, "Hey, Wendy. Hope these guys aren't giving you too much trouble?"

She giggles, "Nope, Natsu. They're just drinking me out of my job like they do every other day-"

"Hey…" Jellal slurs, squinting his eyes at Wendy, "I only get hammered on Saturdays. Every other day of the week… I'm a little angel," he starts to flap his hands on either side of his face to show his "angel wings".

Chuckling, I ask the little girl (who I should stop calling "little girl" since she's turning one-hundred fourteen soon _and_ is working at a bar, but hey-still young to me at least) for two shots. She slides them down to me along with a beer-that I would surely drink after these-before treating to another customer.

I down the first one, its burning sensation filling me immediately and then the second one, adding more flames to the fire burning in my belly. Gajeel eyes me curiously before his red eyes turn to stare down my two empty shot glasses.

"What," he garbles while running a hand through his raven black hair, "could've _possibly_ happened, to make the _Salamander,_ down _two_ shots so fast?"

I shrug and stare into my beer, "A… special occasion?"

Jellal snorts, "What 'special occasion'? I thought those didn't exist in 'Natsu's World'." He rests his blue haired head on the counter, his red tattoo on his right cheek facing the ceiling.

I smirk, "You see-"

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite pink-haired demon?" I freeze in my spot. _So that little fucker did notice me, huh?_ "But I have to agree with blueberry-"

"HEY!"

"-over here. What could possibly be important to you? Ever since-" _he better not go there_.

"-you're mate's-" _oh Devil he's going there._

"-death-" my hands become tight fists at the mention of Lucy, and I have to will myself not to beat the shit out of him when he mentions her death.

"-who was a slut, by the way-" I swing my arm around and my fist lands dead center on his face. His nose crunching underneath my knuckles is the only thing I hear besides the silence of the entire guild's eyes on us. Not only was this dirty cotton swab messing with one of Fairy Tail's most respected members, but he was also from Sabertooth-Fairy Tail's rival. The only reason Fairy Tail didn't kick out Sabers was because they gave big bucks for cheap drinks.

I walk towards the blonde on the ground, who was currently cradling his bloody-and most likely broken-nose, and grab the collar of his shirt with both hands, dragging him up to my eye level.

"So…" I spit into his face, "what were you saying about my mate, _Sting?_" I spit out his name in pure rage. Now, everyone was staring at us-even those in the corners who never paid any attention to anything were-and everyone was probably thinking the same thing.

No one-especially a member of Sabertooth-had the right to bring up a dead mate. It was an unspoken agreement between demons to never bring up another's loss-which was probably one of the only decent things about us.

Sting removes his hands away from his face, revealing the very bloody-and very broken-nose to slur out, "You heard me."

My blood begins to boil and I can see the outline of red and gold scales on my hands. I want to allow myself to give in to the pull of the monster inside me, to stop fighting it and for once, fight beside it as I beat the shit out of this blonde fucking bimbo.

I know I can't, though. I have to stay humane for as long as I can for Lucy. I needed this self-control so I wouldn't hurt someone around her, or even hurt the golden beauty herself.

I tighten my grip on his collar and drag him towards the guild's two wooden front doors. I smash open the doors wide with my foot and haul Sting outside, kicking the doors closed before I throw him down the steps of Fairy Tail.

Groaning, he pushes himself onto his knees and looks up at me, "Stay away from here, Sting."

He chuckles, "What? Are you kicking me out of your little shitty guild?"

I light my fist aflame, "Now." I command.

He huffs, staring into the fire blazing in the palm of my hand. "You know, you used to be so much more aggressive."

"What are you talking about?" I say through clenched teeth.

"Well… you used to beat the shit out of me before I left this outhouse-"

"Careful with what you say, boy. I'm older than you by a hundred years, and as far as I can remember, I always beat the shit out of you before you leave."

"-but this time you only gave me a broken nose. I wonder why…?" he asks as if expecting an answer-_like I'm going to tell this brat jack squat._

"Well, good luck with finding the answer," I say before turning my back on him and walking back towards the guild's doors.

"Wait a second…" he says and I freeze in my spot, "no… it can't be…"

I turn around to face him-_what was this wasted Saber thinking? _"What?" I ask.

He stares at me intently before starting laughing like a hyena, rolling around in the dirty street. I roll my eyes at him-thinking I should've known he was too drunk to even think straight-and turn back around to put my hand on the guild's door.

When I'm about to push the door open, Sting sighs, "She's alive, isn't she? Little Miss Angel is alive? And… you've found her, haven't you?" he says, amusement coating his voice.

I feel my body go rigid against my own will to keep myself composed. I pray Sting doesn't notice, but of course, God never listens to any of my prayers.

Sting begins to cackle again, "I knew it! I knew it! That's why you're acting so human like-you're doing this so you can learn to control yourself like how you did all those years ago! You're doing all of this for her! So two you can be together once again!" he's laughing so hard now that I'm sure his sides are burning from how hard he's laughing.

"Well, Natsu," he says, his laughter still ongoing, "I'm sorry to break it to you, but you're a demon, a monster, you can't keep yourself caged up forever-oh, wait! I almost forgot! She won't even live to be one hundred! And she'll age, too-becoming older and older until you look like her son, then her grandson, and then her great-grandson until one day, she just dies right in front of your eyes-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" I growl at him.

I'm on top of him before he can say another word-punching him senseless. I keep pelting his face with my fists showering down on him until I feel satisfied that he's had enough. When I get up, I stand over him, taking in my bloody masterpiece of missing teeth and black eyes. He coughs up some blood before whispering out, "Thanks for reassuring my suspicions, Salamander… Now she'll never be safe with me tracking her down-" I kick him in the jaw to silence him, 'accidentally' making him unconscious.

"You're not going anywhere near her, Saber." I declare to the knocked out blonde, "I can promise you that. Even if I have to kill you, I'll make sure you never touch her. That's a promise."

I turn away on my heel and stomp up the steps of Fairy Tail, staring down its huge, double-doors. Taking a deep breath, I push open the doors of the guild and go straight to the stairs, not returning the curious glances coming my way.

I make my way to my apartment and walk through the small space to my room. Grabbing a duffel bag from my closet, I stuff it with some of my clothes and my keys before I turn to the sleeping, blue feline on my bed. I pet Happy a goodbye before I reach for the book Gramps gave me and stuff that also into my duffel bag.

I get down on one knee and press my right hand's knuckles to the floor-_there's no way in Hell I'm_ _going to leave Luce alone now._

"_Aperi."_

**Author's Note:  
**

**Okay! How was it? Good? Bad? You decide! Please review, guys! They make my day!**

**Peace,**

**-idevourbooks**

**P.S.**

**Check out my other story, The Invisibles. It's not that bad (I think...)!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:**

**Phew! Finally finished! Okay, sorry for the long wait, but I finally finished (thank God -_-') and I hope you guys enjoy. I had a ball writing this chapter, and I hope you will have one reading it! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Seven**

**Lucy's POV**

My alarm clock's ear-splitting 'BEEP' blares in my ear, causing me to wake up as well as possibly lose my hearing in my left ear-wait, no, make that both of my ears. Yawning, I get out of bed and make my way towards my desk to get two hair ties for my hair, only to see a pink head of hair resting on the desk's surface.

_He stayed all night, huh?_ I smile down at Natsu and go back to my bed to bring over my pink quilt I was previously wrapped up in, and gently drape it over Natsu, careful to not wake him up. He snuggles into the blanket and I smirk at him, crouching down to see his face better. He looked so calm when he was sleeping. His face expressionless and worry-free… _he's so cute,_ I think as I brush his surprisingly soft bangs out of his face, _so cute and handsome-wait, what? What am I doing?!_

I look down at my hand that was playing with his hair and I quickly tug it back._ Oh God he's going to think I'm such a perverted creep if he wakes up and sees me touching him! Why AM I touching him?! I just met the guy and now I'm touching his hair? WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!_

Flustered, I get off of the floor and jog to my dresser to get some clothes before locking myself in my bathroom. I undress and turn the shower's water on steaming hot, before hopping in and scrubbing down. _Such an idiot…_ I think, _such an idiot._

Sighing, I decide to think of something else, like how it was five-in-the-morning and pouring rain on this "lovely" Monday. _Ugh…_ It's Monday. I hate Mondays. They're just so…Monday. They're the beginning of a long week and are the slowest days I have ever had. No one goes to Fairy Tail on Mondays (except perverts and assholes) and_ everyone_ hates Mondays-no one can argue with that.

Even when I was a little girl I hated Mondays. I remember I used to say that I was sick and that I couldn't get out of bed to the maids who would come in and attempt to wake me up. I always thought it was a mission accomplished when the maids would walk out of my room, leaving me all alone… then someone would barge in and drag me out of bed. I always hated that part. I hate Mondays.

I mean, everything bad happens on Mondays. My mother's death was on a Monday, my eighth birthday was on a Monday (don't ask), everything bad happens on Mondays. Not Tuesdays or Wednesdays or Thursdays or Fridays or Saturdays or Sundays-only Mondays. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but it's true. Everything bad happens on Mondays, therefore, I hate them.

Sighing, I get out of the shower and dry off before changing into the clothes I picked out-a navy blue blouse and white shorts with thin, navy stripes decorating them. I slip on the outfit before parting my hair into two, low pigtails and combing out my messy, blonde bangs. I do my makeup quickly and sneak out of the bathroom to my closet, slipping on my black converse.

I grab my purse and keys before searching for an umbrella to use outside in the "monsoon". At the door I steal one last glance at the sleeping pinkette. I purse my lips in thought before deciding to jot down a note that I tape to the refrigerator in hopes he'd be hungry when he woke.

_He won't cause any trouble… right?_ Shrugging, I lock up my apartment and make my way to work, failing to notice the duffel bag stuffed in the corner of the room.

**Natsu's POV**

I had heard her leave the apartment, but I was too lazy to get up, staying in my spot sleeping until a quarter to eight, when I heard something tapping on the window next to her bed.

With an eyebrow raised, I cautiously make my way towards the window, and hastily open it up. I stick my head out the window, seeing nothing but gloomy, gray skies, and I am automatically pelted by the rain.

I'm about to stick my head back inside, when a small voice sounds from above me, "Natsu?" it sobs.

I look up to see a blue ball of fur cowering on the edge of the window, "Happy?" I say before grabbing the feline gently by the scruff of his neck, carefully taking him inside Lucy's apartment and tugging the window closed behind us.

"What are you doing here?" I ask the sopping wet feline.

"I-I was so scared!" he bawls before flinging himself at my chest, burrowing into my shirt, "You know how horrible the demons are to us Exceeds! They think of us as easy kill! And if they don't think that, they picture us as slaves or-or _pets!_ None of them see us as their equals except you, Natsu!" I sympathetically pat Happy on the back, _poor guy…_

"A-and," he continues, sobbing even harder, "they t-t-tried-they tried-to-to-EAT me! HOW DO YOU EAT A CAT?!" I tighten my grip on Happy. I was already concocting a plan about what I was going to do after I found whoever was going to eat him. I would make a nice stew out of them. By first, plucking out their fingernails one-by-one, then-

"I tried to explain to them that cat didn't taste good, and how I needed to pee really badly, and if cat didn't taste good on its own, it'd definitely taste horrible if I peed. BUT THEY DIDN'T LISTEN SAYING THEY WERE SO HUNGRY THEY COULDN'T CARE! I even tried reasoning with them! Saying it was against the rules for demons to eat anything but their element-" _wait a_ _second… eating anything besides my own element… the pumpkin doughnut and coffee… shit! I knew I was doing something wrong… crap and now Lucy's probably going to make me eat everything! Now that I think about it, that's not that bad… besides, rules are there to be broken, right?_

"-BUT THEY STILL TIED ME TO A STICK AND THREW ME OVER A FIRE AND ONE GUY KEPT SAYING, 'I see a feast in our future,' AND I ALMOST _DID _PEE MY PANTS AND THEN THE HUGE CHICKEN CAME OVER AND TRIED TO EAT ME, BUT THEN I FLEW AWAY AND I WENT THROUGH THE PUBLIC PORTAL AND I SOMEHOW TRACKED YOU HERE!" Happy sobbed into my shoulder.

I rub his back reassuringly as I hug him close to me, telling him it was ok and that we were both alright. When he finally calms down, I put Happy down on Lucy's bed and go into her kitchen, finding what I recognize as a refrigerator, and open it up to search for comfort food for Happy, fish. After a couple of minutes of sifting through the items in her fridge, I come up with nothing and I close the refrigerator to see a note taped to the refrigerator's surface.

I shrug and pluck it off before stuffing it into my pocket, not even bothering to read it, as I search the cabinets in her small kitchen for food. Luckily, I find some canned sardines and toss them to Happy as I make my way to the stools placed in front of the kitchen counter. I plop down on one of the wooden stools and pull back out the note that was on the fridge:

_Natsu,_

_I'll be at Fairy Tail until 5, and then I have a class to teach at the local high school from 7 to 8, so I probably won't be back until around 9 at night. Please don't break anything!_

_-Lucy _

"_Don't break anything"? How am I supposed to do that-_CRASH! "Whoops, my bad!" I look up to see Happy picking up the shards of glass that used to be the small, see-through vase on the table before me. I pluck the wet, yellow flower off of the table and twirl it between my thumb and pointer finger, _well… at least she tried._

Sighing, I bring my attention back to her letter and it finally hits me that she won't be home till nine at night-which is in thirteen hours. What am I supposed to do in thirteen hours? Destroy her entire apartment building?

"Who's that from?"

"No one," I automatically answer the cat that was currently lounging on top of my head, a fish dangling lazily in his jaws.

"Well," he says as he fluffs up my spiky hair, "it has to be from someone," I steal a glance up at the blue fur ball as he swallows the rest of his fish whole, "so who is it?"

I frown and stare at Happy's tail that was dangling right in front of my face, "No one that concerns-"

"Who's Lucy? Is this her apartment?" Happy cuts in.

I practically choke on my spit as I glare up at the blue feline who's neck was craned to see the letter, "Since when did you learn to read?!"

"Ever since Carla said I was too stupid to talk to her," he answers nonchalantly. I feel my eye twitch. I always knew that cat would make Happy be smarter-which is good in some ways, yet bad in others.

"Yes, this is her apartment, and uh… she's a friend." I lie, "Yeah, sure she's a friend," I scratch the back of my neck, "But don't tell anyone!" I slam my hands on the table for emphasis, "Don't say this is her apartment. Don't talk about her with anyone. Don't even-"

"YOU LIIIIIIIKE HER!"

"Happy! Focus! I'm serious! If you say anything you could be putting her in grave danger!" Happy stares down at me in confusion and I sigh,_ why_ _did he have to be like me-stupid?_ "She could die, Happy."

He gasps, "WHAT?! BUT I'VE NEVER EVEN MET HER! SHE CAN'T DIE!"

"I know! That's why I need you to not talk about her!" I explain to him.

He nods his head up and down, "Aye sir!" I silently thank whoever was watching over me and I ask Happy to help me find some matches when my stomach begins to growl from the lack of food. Happy searches through her bedroom, and I the kitchen until he calls me over.

"Look Natsu!" I walk into the light pink room to see Happy by her dresser with a lacy, hot pink bra on his face so that it covered his eyes. He grins, "I'm a fly! Buzz!" I rip the bra off of his face and stuff it back into the dresser, the tips of my ears turning red.

"Happy!" I hiss at the clueless cat, "Don't fool around! We don't need her knowing we went through her lingerie draw-"

"Lookie here, Natsu!" I whip my head around to see Happy carrying a towering pile of books in his paws. He places the books on the kitchen table and flips open one of them to the first page, before tossing it on the ground and opening the next one.

My eyes practically bulge out of my head, _what is he doing?!_ "HAPPY! What are you-"

"Look Natsu! There are pictures in this one!" I groan, wishing I had something to eat, and make my way over to Happy.

I completely ignore the picture he was showing me and look at Happy, "Happy-"

"Look!" he butts in for the ten millionth time, "Isn't she pretty?" Happy exclaims as he looks up at me, his eyes sparkling with admiration, and then he looks back at the picture in the book.

I furrow my eyebrows in a mixture of annoyance and curiosity before I finally allow myself to peek down at the picture Happy was fawning over. There stood a girl, with warm, chocolate brown eyes and golden tresses that were tugged back into a high bun with her bangs framing her heart-shaped face. Two of the girl's golden locks hung loosely on either side of her expressionless face, and a silk, magenta ball gown, accented by white lace, was on her small frame.

Soon enough, I realize that the girl was Lucy. An unrecognizable Lucy, who seemed uncomfortable in the expensive, tight dress shimmied onto her body. _Was this…_ _actually her? She looks so… different. I wonder what happened…_

"Is this Lucy?" Happy asks.

"Yeah, how did you know?" I say detachedly, still staring down at the photo of said blonde.

"Well, it says it right there." Happy points to the bottom of the picture where in big, black letters, **LUCY HEARTFILIA**, was written.

My mouth forms a small 'o' and I look at Happy who was looking at the page next to the picture, where it looked like information about her was written. I glanced back and forth between the two pages, finding out when Lucy was born (August 9, 1994 meaning her birthday was two days ago since today's August 11), what she was studying (astrology), and some other non-important stuff, but the only thing on that piece of paper that mattered to me, was at the bottom of the page, where in red letters, the word, **DECEASED**, was printed.

_Deceased? But she's not dead! This book must have it wrong or something!_ I pick up the book from the table and look more closely at the page:

**DECEASED**

**DATE: AUGUST 9, 2013**

**CAUSE OF DEATH: DROWNED**

**MEMORIAL DATE: AUGUST 19, 2013**

_She drowned on her birthday? Why does it say memorial instead of funeral? Could they not find her body after she drowned? Well, of course they couldn't have because SHE'S ALIVE. But they waited such a long time to have the memorial-maybe they were searching for her body? Ugh, this is too much thinking, it's making my brain hurt._

"Natsu?" Happy whispers.

I look down at the blue feline to see his eyes full of concern. I take a deep breath before closing the book and smiling, "Hey Happy, can you put these books back?" he nods his head at me, and I watch him scurry off to put the books back. _Lucy…_

Sighing, I go back to looking for some matches and find some in one of the kitchen drawers I never got to check. I light the twigs and solemnly eat them. Even though they tasted like shit, I ended up finishing the entire match box of shitty flames and look around to see if I can find any more. I find nothing and make my way over to the kitchen table and sit there, doing nothing. Eventually, I lay my head down on the table and snap my fingers, making fire appear and disappear with my snaps.

_I am so bored. I am so bored. Maybe I can light her curtains on fire… I am so bored. So fucking bored. How much longer until Luce comes back?_ I check the time on her alarm clock to see _9:03_ and sigh. _So bored…_

"Hey Natsu…"

I stop snapping my fingers and look up to see Happy sitting on Lucy's bed with a small, tin box open in front of him. In his paws he clutched a piece of paper and I can see the delicate handwriting through it.

"What is it?" I ask and he just shakes his head, confusion written all over his scrunched up face. I raise an eyebrow and I get up from my spot and walk over to Happy, placing out my hand that he automatically places the piece of paper in. I read the first line and know the handwriting was Lucy's:

_Dear Mom,_

_How are you doing? Sorry if I haven't been writing for a while, but my new life is so exciting-I've even made friends! They're really nice and weird in their own way, like this girl, Erza, is really tough and strong and can somehow keep weapons in her blouse... There's also Mira, who's really nice and pretty and is, well, my role model. There's Levy who is a HUGE bookworm-probably even bigger than me! And then there's Cana, the outgoing drunkard-and that's only a couple of my friends! We all work at Fairy Tail together, so it all kind of works out. I'm also thinking about being and astrology teacher for the local high school-you know how much I love the stars!_

_Mamma, my life here is just so much better than I ever thought it could be! I love it! I just wish you could be here to experience it with me._

_ Love, _

_Lucy _

I can't help but feel as if this was something I was not supposed to see, as if it was only for Lucy's eyes and that it was something very personal and dear to her. I feel like I violated her privacy, but I couldn't really care at the moment. My mind was brimming to the maximum with questions I didn't know how to answer. Questions about Lucy. About her past. About everything. I glance down at the tin box and notice there were tons of papers that I'm assuming were all letters like this one. I take one out and read the first line.

_Dear Mamma._

I take another one out and the same thing,

_Dear Mom._

Another one,

_Dear Mother._

Another, and another, and another… they were all addressed to the same person-her mother. They were all letters to her mother. _Why didn't she send all of these? Did she not have enough money or something?_ I pick up another one of the letters and begin to read it, this time it was about her rent being too expensive._ Lucy, you sure are a weirdo._

**888**

**Lucy's POV**

"Bye Miss Ashley!"

"Bye guys! See you next week!" My favorite part of the day was coming to an end, as I dismissed my few students from the ninth grade biology lab I used on Mondays for my class. They were my pride and joy, those little rascals-though I shouldn't say "little" since they're a ton of high school kids.

"Excuse me, Miss Ashley," I turn around to see a petite, magenta haired freshman, Chelia, looking out the window at the barely visible stars rather than me, "what constellation is that one? I've never seen it before," she points up at the cloudy sky.

Smiling at her observation, I look up to where her finger was pointing and see the constellation, Ara, dimly shining in the night sky. "Well," I start, "that's the constellation Ara, or in other words, 'The Altar'. You've probably never noticed it before since it's usually only visible around this time, at night in July and August."

She nods her head, "Oh, okay. Thank you, Miss Ashley. See you next week." She bows before walking towards the door.

"See you, Chelia! And make sure you have your umbrella handy! I think it's going to rain soon!" I call after her. I see her wave me off and I roll my eyes at her. _High school students,_ I think, _they only have manners_ _for a limited amount of time._

Sighing, I take one last glance out the window at the quickly deteriorating sky, before slinging on my messenger bag and grabbing my umbrella, making my way towards the door myself. I strut down the white halls and descend down a couple of flights of stairs, before I make my way towards the school's entrance/exit. I push open the doors and amble away from the school into the quiet night.

Usually, the nights here in Magnolia would be a little bit louder-especially now since it's summer-but with it being a rainy Monday, I guess you can say everyone had an unsaid agreement. Which was, "_don't go outside unless you have to"._

Thunder rumbles in the distance and I nervously nibble at my bottom lip. Thunderstorms and I weren't exactly the best of friends, but then again we weren't enemies, so we were more like… forced alliances. Yeah, that seems about right.

**CRACK! **I wince at the bright light that illuminates the streets and at the bellowing of the thunder that follows. The wind picks up and I pick up the pace, making it to Main Street, where I go into the first building I see-a little hole-in-the-wall called _Kong's Kitchen. _

I make it inside just before it begins to pour and I do an internal victory dance when I turn around to see a small, empty seating room. The walls of the tiny space were a bright red and two, miniature columns were green with its paint chipping off. There were four tables in total and each had two, green chairs to go with them. I cross the room in eight paces and when I reach the counter, I realize there are no employees.

Frowning, I glance around the room and I spot a small, bronze gong in the corner. I hesitantly walk over to it and see a mini mallet with a note underneath it, stuck to the top of the gong. I slide the note out from underneath the mallet and read:

_**Ring for assistance.**_

I furrow my eyebrows and I cautiously pick up the mallet before hitting it against the gong, making a loud gong sound. _So that's why they call it_ _a gong._

Someone clears their throat from behind me and I shriek, causing them to shriek as well. I turn around to see a hunched old man with a long, white beard and mustache. His white hair was pulled out of his face in a high bun on the top of his head and he wore traditional, Chinese robes. He stared at me in fright.

"I-I'm sorry! You scared me!" I utter out.

The old man nods his head, "I say the same to you, Miss." The old man announces before hobbling behind the counter. I follow him, stopping in front of the counter so we were facing each other, "Anyways, welcome to my restaurant. What can I get you, Miss?"

I swallow and look up at the menu above his head and decide I wasn't that hungry, asking the old man (who I'm now assuming is Kong) for two cups of green tea, knowing that Natsu would probably want some. _Natsu…_

The old man nods his head curtly before hobbling off somewhere into the back of the kitchen I can't see from here. I lick my lips before making my towards one of the tables and sitting down, laying my umbrella and bag on the table before me.

I can't help but wonder how Natsu was doing at my apartment-if he even stayed. _He must be bored_ _or eating up my electrical bill, or probably both, who knows. I just-_suddenly, black begins to eat up the corners of my eyesight and I rub my eyes, trying to see if I can rub away whatever was happening with my eyes.

When I open my eyes again, the darkness has taken up even more of my eyesight so that even less of the room was visible. _What the…?_ _What's going on?!_

"_Natsu!"_ I cry out as if he could hear me. I begin to rub my eyes more ferociously, desperate now, as I slowly see the darkness expand, and when I open my eyes up again, I can only see a small speck of the room around me. _What is going on?_

I shriek, _"NATSU!"_

Then the darkness consumes me.

**888**

**Natsu's POV**

"_Jack! Jack!"_

"_Rose! In here! I'm in here!"_

_What the fuck is this? _After I had read Lucy's letter about her rent, I had started to feel a little guilty about reading her personal stuff and I made Happy put the box back where he found it. Now, we were channel surfing and I had stopped flipping through the channels when I saw a girl wading through water, thinking, _this should be interesting_.

Now, I have no idea what I'm watching. _Are they on a ship? I don't get it-oh shit, she has an axe now._ _What is she going to do with that?_

"_Will this work?"_

"_Oh shit! Wait! Before you try it on me, try hitting that door." _

_*swings*_

_*misses by a long run*_

_Damn, how can you miss that? Especially-oh fuck she's going to do it!_ I stare intently at the screen, hoping she misses the handcuffs and cuts off one of his hands instead, while Happy is freaking out on top of my head, screaming, "OH NO! OH NO! THE WATER'S RISING! THE WATER'S RISING! GET OUT OF THERE! YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!"

I watch the redhead get the handcuffs off and see them start to swim through the halls to get out. I feel anxious, so tense to see who dies next. They're at the stairs now, and they're going-_who the hell is this guy? Oh no, he's got a gun_. _They're going to die. I called it._

"_Rose! Run!"_

"_Jack, hurry!"_

"_Natsu!"_

Wait, what? Did… did I hear that right? I thought I just heard-

"_NATSU!" _

_Lucy._

I don't know how, but it's her. It's Lucy. And she called for me-she screamed "Natsu". And somehow… I heard her.

I jump up and off of the couch, running towards the front door. "Happy! Lock the door and stay safe! I'll be right back!" I shout behind me and with that, I left behind the confused feline as I scouted out the smell of strawberries, letting her scent guide me to her.

**888**

**Lucy's POV**

"_Please! Please, don't kill me!"_

**Author's Note:**

**I feel like I'm trolling right now! *laughs* Sorry for the cliffhanger, guys, but how else would I end a chapter like this? *wiggles eyebrows* Anyways, feel free to review (I welcome constructional criticism with open arms-it's not like it ever killed anyone! I think.) **

***awkward silence***

**... Peace!**

**-idevourbooks**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! Sorry for the wait, but I try to update as quick as I can while at the same time, trying to make sure I actually like the chapter and manage my life outside of writing (what life? *laughs*) and of course, think of a million other story lines and ideas that I can't write because if I do, I'd end up never updating any of my stories. Anyways, enough of me and... enjoy!**

**Chapter Eight**

**Lucy's POV**

_My head hurt and for some reason my hands were sticky with something warm. I couldn't tell why since the lack of a light in the room, but they were. I bring my hands up to my face to try and see if I could see them better, but instead the over-whelming scent of iron fills my nose and I almost gag. _

_**Blood.**_

_Trembling, I start to back up, as if I could somehow back away from my hands, causing me to shuffle into a mushy object that ends up making me trip and fall onto my butt. I groan and when I look at what made me fall, I have to hold back a scream._

_It was hideous. Its belly was cut open and its pale, mushy intestines were poured out, half on the floor and half still inside it. Two stumps protruded from its body and were still bleeding profoundly, creating pools of blood on the floor. __**What is this?**_

_My eyes trail their way up the body to see deep gashes right above its slashed belly that soaked the clothing on the body. Two more stumps greet me and I bite the inside of my cheeks in an attempt to stop me from whimpering-whatever did this to it is probably still here and I definitely didn't want to be its next victim. My gaze continues up the body to its face and I puke as I see 'it' was actually a 'he'._

_**What happened here?**_

_I try to shimmy away from the corpse and when I do, I bump into something, causing it to tumble onto my lap. I cover my mouth with my bloody hands to muffle my sobs as tears begin to well up in my eyes. _

_On my lap laid a young woman with white, curly hair and stormy gray eyes. Her throat was in shreds, blood oozing out, staining both of our clothing, yet she was still alive with the gurgling sound of her fighting for breath coming from her throat. When the woman's gaze falls on me, her eyes widen in fright and panic as she tries even harder to breathe so she could collect the strength she needed to run away. _

_I didn't get it. __**Why would she want to be running away from me? One of God's Messengers**__-my head starts to pound as my memories of this place finally come back. It all made sense now. _

_**I… I did this…I did this to these people… to these black magic users… they took away children from their beds to experiment on them… it was me… I had been assigned this mission so they could do the Evaluation of the Soul, so I can complete my training to be a Star Guardian of Heaven. **_

_My eyes widen in realization as I whisper the spell, "Star Vision," through my hands that muffled the chant. My eyesight automatically greatens to the point where it seems as if the whole room was filled with a light only I can see, and I gaze around me, shocked to see the massive number of dead bodies scattered around me. __**I killed all these people… **__I feel guilty, no matter what their sins were, no matter how horrible they were, I was just as bad. I have sinned as well. And I am a murderer, too, just like them. __**I killed all of them…**_

_I slowly push the now-dead lady off of me, and shakily stand up, keeping my hands clasped firmly over my mouth the entire time. I carefully make my way around the corpses and I let the tears flow down my face, washing off some of the dried blood on my cheeks. _

_I was horrified with myself. I had massacred all of these people without a second thought. If I were a demon I'd understand, they're unfeeling, sadistic creatures, but I was an Angel… a holy being that did God's word-this, this was not right. _

_I continue to walk over and around the corpses. There were so many… so many souls lost here… all by my hand. I let out a sob as I walk around a young man who was probably in his early twenties, just beginning his life, and he had a massive hole in his chest where his heart should've been. It looked as if a rock hurtled its way through his chest, yet the quick memory flashes before my eyes of me jabbing my hand inside his chest, grabbing his heart, and pushing through his back so my hand came out the other side, told me a rock did not kill him._

_I gag and continue walking through the large room. It was one of those ball rooms my friends always told me about that the wealthier of the humans had to throw banquets and parties. It was grand and elegant with accents of gold here and there, or at least it was before all this scarlet blood stained all of the pearly white walls and polished marble floors. __**All because of me.**_

_I glance over to the large, floor to ceiling windows on one side of the room to admire the thunderstorm brewing, before staring at the jagged hole I had created in one of them when I fell through, shot out of the sky by one of their watch men. My white, feathery wings were badly damaged and without my consent, had retracted into my back, causing me to free fall into here and continue on with my mission. Now, I had to go on foot to the portal from Earth to Heaven since, unlike demons, we couldn't create portals ourselves._

"_**Lucy Celestial,"**__ booms the gravelly voice of the one and only, Head Angel Porlyusica in my head, __**"there are no other threats detected.**__**Please return to Heaven immediately and report to the Palace of the Void for your Evaluation of the Soul."**_

_I nod my head, __**"Yes ma'am."**_

_I cautiously make it to the creamy double doors on the opposite side of the room, telling myself the entire time that I did all of this for this moment. I killed all of these people to be able to protect others and that I shouldn't feel sorry. _

_**I shall not pity those who have done wrong**__, I think, remembering the oath we said every day at the Academy of the Angelic. _

_**I shall not pity those who have done wrong,**_

_**For it is my duty to set things right.**_

_**Therefore, I will learn how to be strong,**_

_**I will learn how to fight,**_

_**I will learn how to use sorcery,**_

_**I will learn how to be pitiless,**_

_**And I shall rise up in glory,**_

_**For I am an Angel,**_

_**Rising from the fires of Hell.**_

_**I am an Angel**__, I think over and over again, as the pledge replays in my head. __**I am an Angel. I am an Angel. I am an Angel. I do what I do to**__**protect others. I am a protector. I am a guardian. I am an Angel.**_

_Pride swells up in my chest as I throw open the doors, but the feeling quickly deflates as I see a brown haired little girl facing me, a look of pure horror painted across her fair face._

_I freeze and can see her blue eyes trailing behind me, glimpsing into the room littered with bodies, as her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates before tears of fear begin to well up in her eyes._

_I always liked children. They held a much kinder and goofier attitude than the serious, harsh ways of their elders, which is one of the reasons I accepted to do this mission, to grant justice to those small children who were experimented on like animals. And just seeing one like this made my heart break. _

_My face softens, "Shh… it's okay-"_

"_St-stay away!" she stutters out, whipping her face up to meet mine._

_I raise my eyebrows, partially because I was surprised and partially because I was a little hurt, taking slow steps towards the girl. "I won't hurt you," I reassured her with a smile._

_The little girl looks up at me with wide eyes, "I don't know… if I should trust you… I don't know who to trust at all…"_

_I was closer to the little girl now and I could see her trembling all over with fear. I feel my heart contract with sympathy for the little girl, knowing I had to do something. _

"_I know you're scared, and," I say, bringing my voice down to a whisper, "can I let you in on a little secret?" she nods her head up and down vigorously, "I am, too."_

_The little girl giggles softly and I can't help but giggle with her. She was so cute and innocent… nothing like other people in this world._

"_Here," I say, wiping my bloody hand off on my tunic and offering it to her, "let's get out of here."_

_Her face brightens immediately and she quickly wipes away her tears before grabbing my hand with her small ones. The little girl came up to my waist and the oversized night-gown she wore trailed far behind her on the floor, sweeping up the little dust found on the tile. We make our way through the creamy halls, passing portraits along the way as well as millions of doors that led to God knows where. _

"_Do you know where the exit is?" I ask as I stare at one of paintings hung on the wall. It seemed to be a large house, a mansion if you must, and I couldn't help but feel as if the light, yellow color of the building reminded me of a place…_

"_Mm-hmm," the little girl hums, "it's not that far… what are you looking at?"_

_I glance down at the little girl before looking back up at the painting, "This painting, I feel like I've seen the place being portrayed."_

_She giggles, "Of course you've seen it, silly! We're in the building right now."_

_I furrow my eyebrows, "Are we really?"_

_She nods her head, "Yup, now," she says as she tugs on my white, blood stained tunic, "let's go, okay?"_

_I allow the little girl to drag me away, leading us down a few flights of stairs and similar looking hallways, skipping the entire way and blabbering on about nonsense. I smile down at her as she begins to swing our arms back and forth. _

_**So cute…**__ I think, __**maybe I'll**__**keep her instead of sending her off to one of the orphanages-**_

"_**Kill her before you leave that place," **__cuts through my thoughts. I tense up for a moment before continuing to swing arms with the cheerful little girl. _

"_**Porlyusica? But she's only a child-"**_

"_**I don't care."**__ Her cold voice echoes through my head, __**"Kill her, Lucy**__**Celestial, that's an order."**_

_Gulping, I stop walking and kneel down to see the little girl better who was now facing me with a curious look on her face. I gently put my arms around the girl and pick her up, to which she complies to with a bubbly laugh. __**I don't know… she's just a little girl…**_

"_What's your name?" I ask, still smiling, yet now it was half-hearted._

"_Michelle," she answers as she begins to play with my hair, "what's yours?"_

"_I'm Lucy," I answer, tears starting to well up in my eyes that I attempt to smile away, "it's nice to meet you, Michelle."_

_She giggles, oblivious to my tears, "It's nice to meet you, too, Lucy. Ne, Lucy, do you mind if I call you Nee-san? I've always wanted an older sister."_

_I shakily smile and nod my head, "S-sure, I don't mind."_

_A grin splits her face as she throws her arms around my neck, giving me a large hug I can't help but return as I continue walking us through the halls she directed me to go down. "Nee-san," she whispers, "can we go to a better place now? I've never liked it here. It's scary... they were scary people too, with all these different chants and restraints they would place on me…"_

_**She was one of the children they stole.**__ My grip on her tightens, "Michelle… did they… take you from your home?"_

_She clings onto my shirt, "Yes," she mumbles._

"_**Porlyusica…" **__I think, maybe I can persuade her,__** "I don't know if I should do this… she was one of their-"**_

"_**I know exactly who she is, Lucy Celestial."**__ She barks,__** "Now, get on with the job." **__I wince at Porlyusica's words. _

"_Nee-san?" Michelle questions, "Nee-san, I want to leave. Can we go a little bit faster…?"_

"_S-sure," I say before reluctantly picking up the pace. I didn't want to harm this little girl and I didn't want to do anything to hurt her. I wanted to steal her away from this horrible place and watch her grow up and gain happiness and do all of the things people in this world should do, but of course, that was impossible. _

_We make it to the front doors and Michelle talks on and on about all of the things we could do out there and how she always wanted a doll to call her own. "And now I can get one!" she cheers, "Oh! And Nee-san, we can live in a nice little white house with blue trimming and it'll have a nice green lawn that we can have picnics on, and play on, and do all this other stuff! It'll be so much fun!"_

_I have to hold back a sob as I begin to shake uncontrollably. I… I actually wanted that... I wanted to do all of that… it seemed so much better than what I was about to do. _

"_You're a good girl, Michelle. I'm sure," I take in a quick breath, "I'm sure you'll go to a good place." _

_Her smile disappears and she stares at me quizzically. "What do you mean, Nee-san, aren't you coming too?"_

_My bottom lip quivers as I answer her, "I will, eventually, but I won't be able to see you much-"_

"_But… I want to stay with Nee-san!" she cries._

_I looked up towards the ceiling, praying to God that she goes to the right place, as I mumble out the next words into her hair, "I know, Michelle, but you'll be okay. You'll be happy and you'll never have to face this fear again. Don't you want to be happy?"_

_It takes her a moment before answering, "Y-yes… but I don't want to be alone anymore."_

_I take in a shaky breath, "You won't be alone," I say as I reluctantly move my hand up her back to where I feel her pulse at its strongest, right over her heart, "because there are other little girls and boys who are just like you and want a friend, too."_

_She burrows her head into my shoulder, getting my shirt wet as she mutters, "We're friends too, right?"_

_I feel a new wave of tears pour down my cheeks, "Of course," I hoarsely say. _

_Her pulse jumps as I jab my hand through her back to grasp her heart that I quickly pull out for a painless death._

"_Of course we are, Michelle!" I sob out, clutching her small body to my chest. I fall to the floor and sit with her in my lap as I hold her small heart that I shakily place on the ground next to me. I shake as I stare at her expressionless face and gently close her lifeless eyes. __**She didn't deserve this… any of it… I killed… I killed a child… I killed a little girl… I killed her… **_

"_I'm s-so s-s-sorry, M-Michelle…"_

**888**

**Natsu's POV**

Her scent was stronger now, yet it was still quite vague because of all of the rain, but I could tell where she was. I was on Main Street, and I was running past every restaurant and shop, taking in a whiff of every one that was open, until I made it to one restaurant where a strong, strawberry scent was emitting from. I look up to see the name of the restaurant, _Kong's_ _Kitchen_, and I shrug before marching inside to see a frantic old man carrying a tea pot and Lucy resting her forehead on her knees, sobs rigidly shaking her body.

I was too late, wasn't I? _Luce…_

I cross the space between us in three paces and then the old man quickly turns to me, catching me off guard, "You!" I point to myself, _me?_ "Yes, you! Are you stupid?! Do you see anyone else here?" I was about to answer before he just cuts me off, "You bring her back from this depression! She still needs to pay me and I don't care if she's crying or dying or whatever! Do whatever you can to get me my money! Understand?" I quickly nod my head and he goes away into the kitchen, muttering something about it being too expensive to give away stuff for free.

I look down at the weeping Lucy, her sounds of distress audible from here. I kneel down in front of Luce, gently placing a hand on her shoulder to which she eventually places her own hand over, squeezing weakly.

"Luce…" I whisper, "what happened?" Her sobs just increase and she squeezes my hand with more force, shaking as if she were freezing. _Guess that was the wrong thing to say._

"It's okay, Luce. You're okay, don't worry. I'm right here," I reassure her. She continues to silently cry, holding onto my hand as if it was a lifeline, but eventually she raises her head and rests her chin on her knees. Her blood-shot eyes stare into mine and her cheeks were raw with tears still pouring down them. Her shoulders still shook and her bottom lip trembled as she breathed in short, airy gasps. _She looks_ _horrible_, I think, _sort of how she looked yesterday-_

"Luce," I start, "is this the same thing that happened yesterday?"

Her eyes widen and she bites her bottom lip as she slowly nods her head. I wrap my arms around her and hold her as more tears begin to pour down her face. She ends up wrapping her own arms around my chest, resting her head on my shoulder as I trace circles on her back in an attempt to calm her down.

"I-I don't know w-why…" she mumbles into my ear.

I furrow my eyebrows, "Why what?" I ask.

She tries to take in a deep breath, "Why I-I'm s-seeing these th-things…"

I freeze for a moment before continuing to rub her back, "What things?" I whisper.

She's silent for a while and I fear I said the wrong thing again, but then she whispers into my ear, "These v-visions… I-I keep thinking it's j-just my im-imagination, b-but… they're s-so v-vivid… s-so real… I-I can't h-help but th-think they're m-memories…"

My eyes widen. _Memories?_ "Luce," I say a little bit more urgently than it was supposed to be, "what have you seen?"

"I…" she pauses for a moment before continuing, "Yesterday… I was in a meadow… with you… and for some reason these people came… I think one of them was apparently my friend… and they… they said something about… deciding our fate, I think?" I tense, but she doesn't seem to notice as she continues. _I know which memory this is_, "And then… you were fighting with some guy… and then this… this thing… came out of this portal… and… and that's all I saw before coming back…"

I burrow my face into her neck. _Oh Luce_, I think, _why did that horrid_ _memory have to be the first one you saw?_

"And then just now…" she starts again, a new wave of sobs overthrowing her, "I-it w-was h-horrible… I-I…" I squeeze her tighter to my chest, _what_ _else did she see? _"I-I killed," hiccup, "s-so many p-people," hiccup, "I-I… I even killed… her."

I raise my eyebrows as I continue to comfort her, _I've never heard of this memory before_, "Who, Luce, who did you kill?"

"Some… black magic users? I think that's what I called them… and… the…the little girl…" she whimpered. I remember how Lucy used to love children, how she never wanted to harm one… yet there was always a sadness behind her voice when she would talk about them-which is something she tried to avoid doing. _Could this be why…?_

"Luce," I cooed and she just cried even more.

"I-I didn't w-want t-to d-do it. I-I wanted to s-save her. B-but the l-lady t-told m-me I-I had t-to, and I j-just obeyed!" I kiss the top of her head and rest my chin there, rocking us back and forth as she continues to mutter on about how it was all her fault.

"It's not your fault," I whisper, "none of it was your fault."

We stay like that for a while, me rocking us back and forth while she wept into my shoulder, until eventually she falls asleep. Her eyes are puffy and a small frown is carved onto her face as she slept. I rock us a little bit more before I see the little old man come back with an expression that says, 'where's my money?'

I pull out my wallet that I kept all different kinds of human currency in, taking out fifty jewels and throwing it to the little old man who hobbles away into the kitchen again. I carefully pick up Lucy and carry her out of the small, Chinese restaurant into the rainy night.

I didn't want to leave Lucy all alone (especially with that threat from Sting and now with this…) so I tracked down her friend Erza's scent of cherry blossoms mixed with metal and found her apartment with some luck since the rain made it even harder to pinpoint her location.

When the redhead opened the door, she gladly allowed me to lay Lucy on her couch next to the fire blazing in the hearth and ran off to get some blankets for the sopping wet girl, never once asking a question. I left before the redhead could come back, heading off to the Fairy Tail of this world, where I knew a certain someone would be.

We had quite a few things to talk about, me and that old man.

**Author's Note:**

**Okay! That was an... intense chapter. When I was first writing the beginning, I almost puked because 1)it was much more descriptive and gory and 2) well... come on! Seriously? How can you not want to puke (especially if you're the one visualizing what should be happening)? Anyways, this chapter felt effortless since I was so eager and interested to write out some more of Angel Lucy's past (teehehe there's more to come bwahaha) and well, I guess I must make myself work hard on the next chapter! **

**Oh-please leave a review, you guys have no idea how happy I get to see them (I'm serious, I literally blow up inside XD) and have a great... Fourth of July? Independence Day? I don't know-just... stay fine? *laughs* I'm getting weird now...**

**Peace!**

**-idevourbooks**

**P.S. Check out my other story, _The Invisibles_, I promise you won't regret it! ...I think.**


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